The films Argentina, 1985, Bardo and Pinocchio were the only Latin American films shortlisted for the Best International Film category at the 95th Academy Awards.

Argentina, 1985, directed by Argentine filmmaker Santiago Mitre, premiered this year at the Venice Film Festival. It tells the story of prosecutors Julio Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo, who brought the commanders of the last Argentine military dictatorship to trial in 1985.

Recently, the film was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes and Best Ibero-American Film at the 2023 Goya Awards.

The feature film, inspired by true events, is available on the Prime Video.

Two Netflix films in the running

The Academy also included Bardo, or false Chronicle of a Handful of Truths and Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro in the shortlist for Best International Film. It once agains brings two Mexican director titans to compete in Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro.

Bardo tells the story of the renowned Mexican journalist and documentarian Silverio Gama, who lives in Los Angeles. After winning a prestigious international award, Gama is forced to return to his country, unaware that this will take him to an existential limit.

The leading role, played by the Mexican actor Daniel Giménez Cacho, will look for answers in his past to reconcile who he is in the present, face his identity, the absurdity of his memories, and the new reality of the earth that saw birth.

In addition to Giménez, the cast is made up of the Argentine actress Griselda Siciliani (Los únicos and Educando a Nina), the Mexico's Ximena Lamadrid (Who Killed Sara?), Íker Lozano and American actor Jay O. Sanders.

Bardo, or false Chronicle of a Handful of Truths also premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September, in U.S. theaters on Nov. 4, and on Netflix on Dec. 16.

The animated film Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro, also on Netflix, is also nominated for Best Music (Original Score), Best Original Song and Best Sound at the Oscars.

The film by del Toro, which "gives a twist to the classic tale of the wooden puppet that comes to life in this stop-motion animated musical," has also recently been nominated for a Golden Globe in the categories of Best Animated Film, Best Soundtrack and Best Song.

Nominees announced in January

Latin American directors will have to wait until Jan. 24 to find out the final nominees for the Oscars, whose award ceremony will be held on March 12, 2023.