The Ecuadorian Academy of Cinema has selected Ana Cristina Barragán’s The Ivy / Hiedra as Ecuador’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, marking the second time the acclaimed filmmaker has represented her country at the Oscars. Announced by the Academy, the selection will also represent Ecuador in the Ibero-American Film competition at Spain’s Goya Awards.
Barragán’s third feature had its world premiere in the Orizzonti competition at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where she won the Award for Best Screenplay. The film continued its international festival run at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it received a Special Mention in the Horizontes Latinos section, and has since screened at festivals around the world.
Starring Simone Bucio and Francis Eddú Llumiquinga, The Ivy centers on Azucena, a woman in her thirties who begins observing a group of teenagers living in a group home. Drawn to their games and sense of brotherhood as she searches for fragments of a past marked by a traumatic event during her own adolescence, she becomes particularly interested in Julio, a 17-year-old resident. As the two spend time together, an uneasy intimacy develops between them, transforming a bond neither expected to find.
Born in Quito, Barragán made her feature debut with Alba (2016), which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and went on to win more than 35 international awards. The film was also selected by Ecuador as its submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Her sophomore feature, Octopus Skin / La piel pulpo (2022), premiered at San Sebastián and later won six Colibrí Awards from the Ecuadorian Film Academy.
With The Ivy, Barragán became the first Ecuadorean filmmaker to compete in the official selection of the Venice Film Festival, where her Best Screenplay win in Orizzonti marked a historic achievement for Ecuadorean cinema.
The 99th Academy Awards will take place on March 14, 2027. Preliminary voting will run December 7–11, 2026.
