The Argentine film "Belén", directed by and starring Dolores Fonzi alongside Camila Plate, has been pre-selected for the shortlist of the Academy Awards for its 98th edition. The film made it into the group of productions chosen by the Hollywood Academy on the path to the Best International Feature Film category, a first and decisive step in the race for the golden statuette, according to the Argentine News Agency. Inclusion in this shortlist implies that only five films from this group will be finally nominated. The story is based on a real case that occurred in Tucumán in 2014, reconstructed in the journalistic book "We are Belén" by Ana Correa. The narrative follows a young woman who arrives at a public hospital with severe abdominal pain, suffers a miscarriage, and during the medical procedure, is detained by the police. This incident led to an unjust conviction that kept an innocent woman deprived of her liberty for two years. The film features a notable cast including Laura Paredes, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Fonzi and Agustina San Martín, Julieta Cardinali, Luis Machín, César Troncoso, Sergio Pri and Liliana Juárez, along with local actors and actresses from Tucumán. Since its premiere, the film has traveled through important international festivals and ceremonies, as it won the Forqué Award for Best Latin American Film, was nominated for the Critics Choice Awards, passed through the San Sebastián Festival and aspires to the Goya for Best Ibero-American Film. Additionally, it received recognition from writer Margaret Atwood, who even signed the prologue to a reissue of the original book, highlighting that Belén's "case could have come from the pages of Gilead". The final list will be known on the next February 10, while the awards ceremony is scheduled for March 15, 2026. Until then, "Belén" will compete with high-profile productions from countries such as Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan, among others.
