Cannes Film Festival 2013: Mexico's Amat Escalante Takes Best Director Award For Film 'Heli'

After three years of participating in the Cannes Film Festival, Amat Escalante of Mexico received the honor of best director.

Escalante received the top nod Sunday for his film "Heli," which depicts the gruesome drug war in his home country and the subsequent corruption that follows it.

This is the second year in a row that a Mexican director took the crown, with Carlos Reygadas, a mentor of Escalante's, taking the top spot in 2012.

Escalante was beaming as he received his award, telling reporters that it came as a shock to him.

"I wasn't expecting it. I hope that Mexico does not get used to the violence," he said.

His two prior films that have been a part Cannes both illustrate the struggles of Mexicans embroiled in issues that heavily tie into the U.S. His film "Sangre," which he entered in 2005, takes places in Guanajuato, Mexico and shows the effects of U.S. culture on its people.

The other, "Los Bastardos," entered in 2008, follows two Mexican men who illegally immigrate into the U.S.and turn to a life of delinquency.

Escalante was born in Bareclona to a Mexican father and an American mother. The family later moved to Guanajuato where he grew up and became an adamant admirerer of film. He took his first crack at the profession at the age of 15 until he crossed paths with Reygadas at 18 and worked on films such as "Japon" and "Batalla en el cielo."

The 34-year-old director interviewed 3,000 for "Heli," which unapologetically depicts the gruesome details of the drug war, including decapitations, assassinations and even scenes of torture while showing how it has devastated Mexico's political landscape for years.