List of Ecuadorian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Ecuador has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film^{[nb 1]} on an irregular basis since 2000. 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.^[3] As of 2021^[update], ten Ecuadorian films have been submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and none has yet been nominated for an Oscar.

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 Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award 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.^[3] Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Ecuador for review by the Academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony. Both films were in Spanish.

Year (Ceremony)	Film title used in nomination	Spanish title	Director	Result
2000 (73rd)	Dreams from the Middle of the World	Sueños en la mitad del mundo	Carlos Naranjo Estrella	Not nominated
2004 (77th)	Chronicles	Crónicas	Sebastián Cordero	Not nominated
2013 (86th)	Porcelain Horse^[4]	Mejor no hablar (de ciertas cosas)	Javier Andrade	Not nominated
2014 (87th)	Silence in Dreamland^[5]	Silencio en la tierra de los sueños	Tito Molina	Not nominated
2016 (89th)	Such Is Life in the Tropics^[6]	Sin muertos no hay carnaval	Sebastián Cordero	Not nominated
2017 (90th)	Alba^[7]	Alba	Ana Cristina Barragán	Not nominated
2018 (91st)	A Son of Man^[8]	A Son of Man: La maldición del tesoro de Atahualpa	Jamaicanoproblem, Pablo Agüero	Not nominated
2019 (92nd)	The Longest Night^[9]	La mala noche	Gabriela Calvache	Not nominated
2020 (93rd)	Emptiness^[10]	Vacío	Paul Venegas	Not nominated
2021 (94th)	Submersible^[11]	Sumergible	Alfredo León León	Not nominated
2022 (95th)	Lo Invisible^[12]	Lo invisible	Javier Andrade	Not nominated

Ecuador's first submission, Dreams from the Middle of the World, told three stories featuring mysterious woman in rural Ecuador: a Spanish woman suddenly arrives in a small secluded town to give piano lessons, a professor believes a blonde stranger has something to do with a series of strange events, and a vacationing couple confront a native demon-spirit called a guadagnó. Producer Alfredo Marcovici told The New York Times in February 2001 "Here in Ecuador it means a lot to be in the Academy because it is so difficult to make movies here. If [a nomination] happens, it would be like a gift from God."^[13]

Ecuador's second submission, Crónicas, was a thriller about a group of tabloid journalists who journey to Ecuador to investigate a serial killer. The film was set and filmed in Ecuador by an Ecuadorian director, and featured an international cast from the United States (John Leguizamo), Mexico (Damián Alcázar and José María Yazpik), the UK (Alfred Molina) and Spain (Leonor Watling). The film was given a limited US theatrical release,^[14] and released on DVD with English subtitles.

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films
• Cinema of Ecuador

Notes

1. The category was previously named the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in April 2019, after the Academy deemed the word "Foreign" to be outdated.^[1][2]

References

1. "Academy announces rules for 92nd Oscars". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
2. "Academy Announces Rule Changes For 92nd Oscars". Forbes. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
3. . Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
4. . El Nacional. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
5. "'Silencio en la tierra de los sueños', a los Óscar". El Universal. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
6. Salazar, Francisco (5 October 2016). "Oscar 2017 Predictions: 'Such is Life in the Tropics' will Represent Ecuador at the Oscars". Latin Post. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
7. "Alba". Academia de las artes y las ciencias cinematográficas del Ecuador. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.^{[permanent dead link]}
8. Mango, Agustin (5 September 2018). "Oscars: Ecuador Selects 'A Son of Man' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
9. "La mala noche representa a Ecuador para postular a premios Oscar y Goya". El Telegrafo. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
10. "El filme 'Vacío' representará a Ecuador en la selección nacional de nominados al Oscar". El Comercio Ecuador. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
11. "Un 'Sumergible' ecuatoriano irá por el Premio Óscar y el Goya". Periodismo Público. 25 August 2021.
12. "'Lo Invisible', a film by Ecuadorian Javier Andrade, is preparing to compete in the Oscars as a local selection". 247 News Agency. 25 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
13. Bohlen, Celestine (12 February 2001). "The Long, Felliniesque Road to Hollywood; For Foreign-Language Films in Search of an Oscar, Obstacles at Every Turn". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
14. "Cronicas (2004) - IMDb". IMDb.

External links

• IMDb Academy Awards Page
• [1]