Uruguay has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1992. 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. Cinemateca Uruguaya has been submitting the country's films.
As of 2026, Uruguay was nominated only once, for A Place in the World (1992), but the film was disqualified following the minimal Uruguayan creative input in the production.
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 International Film Feature 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.
At the 65th Academy Awards, A Place in the World (1992) directed by was nominated representing Uruguay, marking the country's first submission. But soon after a controversy quickly began when stories began circulating that the film had minimal Uruguayan artistic input, being actually shot by an Argentine filmmaker in Argentina, with the plot set in Argentina, and the cast and crew primarily from Argentina. The film was also in the running (and finished in second place) to represent Argentina, and represented the country at the Golden Globe Awards and eventually went on to win Best Picture at the Argentinian National Film Awards (the Asociación de Críticos Cinematográficos de Argentina) Ultimately, AMPAS disqualified the film and removed it from the Oscar final ballot.
Uruguay took a hiatus of almost ten years, and rejoined the submission process only in 2001, and it's submitting films regularly ever since.
Alma Mater (2005), was announced but was not on the official AMPAS list, and did not screen for the Academy. The same scenario happened nearly twenty years later with The Door Is There (2024), which was also not on the official final list of the Academy.
All films were produced primary in Spanish. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Uruguay 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 Director(s) Result 1992(65th) A Place in the World Disqualified after Oscar nominations were announced Un lugar en el mundo 2001(74th) In This Tricky Life En la puta vida 2002(75th) The Last Train El Último tren Diego Arsuaga 2003(76th) Seawards Journey El Viaje hacia el mar Guillermo Casanova 2004(77th) Whisky and Pablo Stoll 2005(78th) Alma Mater Álvaro Buela Did not appear on the AMPAS official list http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/58-foreign-language-oscar-submissions/ 2007(80th) The Pope's Toilet El Baño del Papa and Enrique Fernandez 2008(81st) Matar a Todos Esteban Schroeder 2009(82nd) Bad Day to Go Fishing Mal día para pescar 2010(83rd) A Useful Life La vida útil 2011(84th) The Silent House La casa muda 2012(85th) The Delay La demora 2013(86th) Anina Alfredo Soderguit 2014(87th) Mr. Kaplan 2015(88th) A Moonless Night Una noche sin luna Germán Tejeira 2016(89th) Breadcrumbs Migas de pan Manane Rodriguez 2017(90th) Another Story of the World Otra historia del mundo Guillermo Casanova 2018(91st) A Twelve-Year Night La noche de 12 años 2019(92nd) The Moneychanger Así habló el cambista 2020(93rd) Alelí 2021(94th) The Broken Glass Theory La teoría de los vidrios rotos Diego Fernández 2022(95th) The Employer and the Employee El empleado y el patrón Manolo Nieto 2023(96th) Family AlbumTemas propios Guillermo Rocamora 2024(97th) The Door Is There Hay una puerta ahí Facundo Ponce de León and Juan Ponce de León 2025(98th) Don't You Let Me Go Agarrame fuerte Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge 2026(99th) A Loose End Un cabo suelto Daniel Hendler
Shortlisted Films Every year since 2014, except in 2019, Uruguay has announced a list of finalists that varied in number over the years (from 2 to 8 films) before announcing its official Oscar nominee. The following films have been shortlisted by the Uruguayan National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual: YearFilms201423 Seconds · At 60 km/h · Kites on the Walls · Maracaná · The Militant · Solo · Zanahoria2015Tan frágil como un segundo · Your Parents Will Come Back2016Clever · Dolphins Go East · The Modern2017Get the Weed · Home Team · The Lost Brother · Night Watch2018Agridulce · La flor de la vida2020Carmen Vidal Female Detective · Porn for Newbies · Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine2021The Employer and the Employee · Hilda's Short Summer20229 · Bosco2023Amores pendientes · Milonga · That Breath2024Don't You Let Me Go · Pepe's Dreams - Movement 2052 · The Snow Between Us · Working Lights2025Dogs · The Fable of the Tortoise and the Flower · Keep Coming Back · Panchopalooza · Ponsonbyland · The Silence of Marcos Tremmer
See also List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best International Feature Film List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films
Notes
References
External links The Official Academy Awards Database The Motion Picture Credits Database IMDb Academy Awards Page