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

Cuba has submitted films for consideration in the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film ^{[nb 1]} category at the Oscars since 1978. 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] , Cuba has submitted twenty-two films. Cuba received their first and only Oscar nomination for their 1994 submission, Strawberry and Chocolate , a gay-themed comedy-drama.

The Cuban nominee is selected annually by the Cuban Film Institute, the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). ^[4]

Submissions

Every year, each country is invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to submit its best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. 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]

The following is a list of the films submitted by Cuba in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards. All films were produced in Spanish.

Year (Ceremony)	English title	Original title	Language(s)	Director	Result
1978 (51st)	Viva el Presidente	El recurso del método	Spanish	Miguel Littín	Not nominated
1987 (60th)	A Successful Man	Un hombre de éxito		Humberto Solás	Not nominated
1988 (61st)	Letters from the Park	Cartas del parque		Tomás Gutiérrez Alea	Not nominated
1989 (62nd)	Supporting Roles	Papeles secundarios		Orlando Rojas	Not nominated
1990 (63rd)	The Beauty of the Alhambra	La bella del Alhambra		Enrique Pineda Barnet	Not nominated
1991 (64th)	Hello Hemingway			Fernando Perez	Not nominated
1992 (65th)	Adorable Lies	Adorables mentiras		Gerardo Chijona	Not nominated
1994 (67th)	Strawberry and Chocolate	Fresa y chocolate		Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Juan Carlos Tabío	Nominated
1996 (69th)	Think of Me	Pon tu pensamiento en mí		Arturo Sotto Díaz	Not nominated
1997 (70th)	Vertical Love	Amor vertical			Not nominated
2002 (75th)	Nothing More	Nada		Juan Carlos Cremata	Not nominated
2003 (76th)	Suite Habana		No dialogue	Fernando Perez	Not nominated
2005: (78th)	Viva Cuba		Spanish	Juan Carlos Cremata	Not nominated
2006 (79th)	El Benny			Jorge Luis Sánchez	Not nominated
2007 (80th)	The Silly Age	La edad de la peseta		Pavel Giroud	Not nominated
2009 (82nd)	Fallen Gods	Los dioses rotos	Spanish, Yoruba	Ernesto Daranas	Not nominated
2011 (84th)	Habanastation [5]		Spanish	Ian Padrón	Not nominated
2014 (87th)	Behavior [6]	Conducta		Ernesto Daranas	Not nominated
2016 (89th)	The Companion [7]	El acompañante		Pavel Giroud	Not nominated
2018 (91st)	Sergio and Sergei [8]	Sergio & Sergei	Spanish, English, Russian	Ernesto Daranas	Not on the final list [9]
2019 (92nd)	A Translator [10]	Un traductor	Spanish, Russian	Rodrigo Barriuso, Sebastián Barriuso	Not nominated
2020 (93rd)	Buscando a Casal [11]		Spanish	Jorge Luis Sánchez	Not nominated
2023 (96th)	Nelsito's World [12]	El mundo de Nelsito		Fernando Pérez	Disqualified

Cuba's first submission was directed by Miguel Littin, a leftist Chilean director who was nominated in this category twice, representing Mexico in 1975/76 (for Letters from Marusia ) and Nicaragua in 1982/83 (for Alsino and the Condor ). He also represented his native Chile in 2009.

In addition to the above films, the Dominican Republic submitted Guaguasi - a drama directed by a Cuban-American exile, set amidst the turmoil of the 1956 Cuban Revolution and filmed in the Dominican Republic - for consideration in 1983,

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

IMDB ^[13] Variety ^[14]

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. "Rule Thirteen: Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award". 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. http://www.cubanow.net/pages/loader.php?sec=8&t=2&item=3211%5B%5D
5. "63 Countries Vie for 2011 Foreign Language Film Oscar". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
6. Harvey, Dennis (16 January 2015). "Film Review: 'Behavior'". Variety. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
7. Salazar, Francisco (18 August 2016). "Oscar 2017 Predictions: Will Cuba Get its Second Oscar Nomination with Busan Film Festival Selection "The Companion?"". Latin Post. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
8. "La coproducción participada por España 'Sergio & Serguéi', elegida por Cuba para la carrera al Oscar". Audiovisual451. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
9. "87 Countries In Competition for 2018 Foreign Language Film Oscar". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
10. "Oscars: Cuba Selects Un Traductor as its Academy Awards Candidate". Cinema Tropical. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
11. "Cuba busca su nominación al Oscar con Buscando a Casal, de Jorge Luis Sánchez". Cubadebate. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
12. Pond, Steve (30 October 2023). "89 Films Enter International Race at 96th Academy Awards". The Wrap. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
14. Scheib, Ronnie (7 June 2005). "Caribe Movie Review". Variety.