Argentina has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1961. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. The award was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since.
As of 2026, Argentina has been nominated eight times, winning twice for Luis Puenzo's The Official Story (1985) and Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes (2009).
Submissions The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1956. The Best International Feature Film Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.
Previously, in 1948, Argentina presented Luis César Amadori's Dios se lo pague as a candidate for the Honorary Award to the best foreign-language film released in the United States, making it the first Argentine film to be sent to the Academy Awards. But the prize was attributed to Monsieur Vincent. These awards were not competitive, as there were no nominees but simply a winner every year that was voted on by the Board of Governors of the Academy.
The Argentina nominee is selected annually by the Academia de las Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas de la Argentina. The selection committee holds separate votes to decide which film goes to the Oscars and, in a separate vote, which film goes to the Spanish Goya Awards.
Marcelo Piñeyro and Pablo Trapero have been selected three times each, while only Juan José Campanella has managed multiple nominations. Nominated films include: The Truce (1974), Camila (1984), Tango (1998), Son of the Bride (2001), Wild Tales (2014), and Argentina, 1985 (2022).
The Official Story (1985), directed by , was the country first winner at the 58th Academy Awards. Followed by The Secret in Their Eyes (2009), directed by , at the 82nd Academy Awards.
Among all the countries that have received the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Argentina (with two awards) is one of four Spanish-speaking countries that have done so, alongside Chile (one award), Mexico (one award) and Spain (four awards).
Belén (2025) by made into the fifteen films shortlist, but was not nominated.
All films are primary in Spanish. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Argentina for review by the academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.
Year(Ceremony) Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result 1961(34th) Summer Skin Piel de veranoSpanish 1962(35th) The Sad Young Men Los jóvenes viejos 1965(38th) Pajarito Gómez 1974(47th) The Truce La tregua 1975(48th) Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf Nazareno Cruz y el lobo, las palomas y los gritosSpanish, Quechua 1976(49th) Yesterday's Guys Used No Arsenic Los muchachos de antes no usaban arsénicoSpanish 1977(50th) What Does Fall Mean? ¿Qué es el otoño? 1979(52nd) The Island La isla 1981(54th) The Underground Man El hombre del subsuelo 1982(55th) Last Days of the Victim Últimos días de la víctima 1984(57th) Camila 1985(58th) The Official Story La historia oficial 1986(59th) Tangos, the Exile of Gardel Tangos, el exilio de GardelSpanish, French 1987(60th) Man Facing Southeast Hombre mirando al sudesteSpanish 1988(61st) Verónico Cruz La deuda interna 1989(62nd) The Girlfriend La amigaSpanish, German 1990(63rd) I, the Worst of All Yo, la peor de todasSpanish 1991(64th) The Tombs Las tumbas Javier Torre 1992(65th) The Dark Side of the Heart El lado oscuro del corazón 1993(66th) Gatica, el mono 1994(67th) A Shadow You Soon Will Be Una sombra ya pronto serás 1995(68th) Wild Horses Caballos salvajes 1996(69th) Eva Perón: The True Story Eva Perón Juan Carlos Desanzo 1997(70th) Ashes of Paradise Cenizas del paraíso 1998(71st) Tango Tango, no me dejes nunca 1999(72nd) Manuelita 2000(73rd) Merry Christmas FelicidadesSpanish, Hebrew Lucho Bender 2001(74th) Son of the Bride El hijo de la noviaSpanish 2002(75th) Kamchatka 2003(76th) Valentín 2004(77th) Lost Embrace El abrazo partidoSpanish, Korean, Lithuanian, Yiddish 2005(78th) The Aura El auraSpanish 2006(79th) Family Law Derecho de familia 2007(80th) XXY 2008(81st) Lion's Den Leonera 2009(82nd) The Secret in Their Eyes El secreto de sus ojos 2010(83rd) Carancho 2011(84th) Aballay Aballay, el hombre sin miedo Fernando Spiner 2012(85th) Clandestine Childhood Infancia clandestina Benjamín Ávila 2013(86th) The German Doctor WakoldaSpanish, German, Hebrew 2014(87th) Wild Tales Relatos salvajes Spanish 2015(88th) The Clan El clan 2016(89th) The Distinguished Citizen El ciudadano ilustre Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn 2017(90th) Zama 2018(91st) El Angel El Ángel 2019(92nd) Heroic Losers La odisea de los giles 2020(93rd) The Sleepwalkers Los sonámbulos 2021(94th) The Intruder El prófugo Natalia Meta 2022(95th) Argentina, 1985 2023(96th) The Delinquents Los delincuentes 2024(97th) Kill the Jockey El jockey 2025(98th) Belén 2026(99th) The Virgin of the Quarry Lake La virgen de la tosquera
Shortlisted films YearFilms1999Crane World · Olympic Garage · Same Love, Same Rain2000Nine Queens2001La ciénaga2002El bonaerense · Common Ground · Intimate Stories · Red Bear2003Bottom of the Sea · Cleopatra2004The Holy Girl · Moon of Avellaneda · El perro2005Blessed by Fire · Cama adentro · Whisky Romeo Zulu2006The Hands2007The Aerial · The Signal2008Aniceto2009Days of May · The Fish Child · The Widows of Thursdays2010Brother and Sister · Eva & Lola · Igualita a mí · It's Your Fault · The Last Summer of La Boyita · The Man Next Door · A Matter of Principles · El mural · No Return · Three Wishes2011The Cat Vanishes · Chinese Take-Away · Cowboy · Juan y Eva · Los Marziano · Mount Bayo · The Student · Widows20122+2 · Las Acacias · The Last Elvis · White Elephant2013Metegol · Thesis on a Homicide2015Abzurdah · No Kids · Papers in the Wind · Paulina2016I'm Gilda · Incident Light · The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis · The Tenth Man2017A Sort of Family · The Summit · Ten Days Without Mom2019Rojo · The Weasel's Tale2023Blondi · Puan · The Rescue: The Weight of the World2024The Freshly Cut Grass · Most People Die on Sundays · The Practice · Simon of the Mountain · Transmitzvah2025Homo Argentum · Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed · The Woman in the Line2026The Match · Our Land · Strangers in the Park
See also List of Argentine Academy Award winners and nominees List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best International Feature Film List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films Cinema of Argentina
Notes
References
External links The Official Academy Awards Database The Motion Picture Credits Database IMDb Academy Awards Page