Costa Rica opens submissions for 99th Academy Awards selection

The Costa Rican Center for Cinema and Audiovisual (Centro de Cine), under the Ministry of Culture and Youth, has opened the call for submissions to select the country's representative for the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

Producers of Costa Rican feature films have until August 19, 2026, at 4:00 p.m., to submit their entries. To be eligible, films must be longer than 40 minutes, produced outside the United States, and feature a predominant dialogue in a language other than English. Additionally, the films must have had a commercial release between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, with a minimum seven-day consecutive theatrical run, and cannot have been previously released on television, streaming platforms, or the internet.

A selection committee composed of at least five Costa Rican professionals from the audiovisual sector will evaluate the submissions and recommend the official entry. Minister of Culture and Youth Jorge Rodríguez Vives noted that these representations project the talent and identity of the national audiovisual industry to a global audience.