These Are the 16 Latin American Movies in the Running for Best International Film Oscar
Rodrigo Santoro and Yoandra Surez appear in Un Traductor by Rodrigo Barriuso and Sebastián Barriuso, an official selection of 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. Photo by Gabriel Guerra Bianchini.
The same year that the category rebranded itself as “Best International Feature Film,” the sole Oscar category that singles out global cinema attracted a record number of submissions. Ahead of the 92nd Academy Awards, 93 countries submitted films vying for that coveted golden statue. As usual, there are buzzy titles all around (including Pedro Almodóvar’s Dolor y gloria) and if history is to be any indication, we’ll hopefully see at least one lucky Latin American filmmaker in the mix the year after Alfonso Cuarón all but dominated the proceedings.
In the past decade alone, Latin American projects have nabbed 8 nominations and three wins: 2009’s El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina), 2017’s Una mujer fantástica (Chile) and, just last year, Roma (Mexico). Hoping to join that enviable canon are 16 feature films that hail from all over the continent, and even include a European submission from a Belgian-Guatemalan filmmaker. From a war drama in the Amazon and a queer family melodrama in the Andes to character studies on hotel maids, translators and money launderers, this year’s roster is brimming with the best the region has to offer.
Consider the full list below a way to keep track of the best of Latin American cinema you should catch in the next few months ahead of the Oscar nominations.
From all eligible movies, ten will be announced in mid-December as part of the shortlist. From that list, Academy members will vote and select five as the official nominees. Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards are announced on January 13, 2020.
