Cuba has selected Malecón, the debut feature by Los Angeles-based Spanish director Carlos Larrazabal, as its official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. The Cuban-Spanish-U.S. co-production marks the Caribbean country’s return to the Oscar race with a drama set in contemporary Havana that explores friendship, love, survival, and the difficult choice between staying and leaving.
Written by Larrazabal and Cuban filmmaker Fabián Suárez, Malecón follows Elvis, who returns to Havana after serving ten years in prison for killing his abusive stepfather while trying to protect his mother. Returning to a city that has changed dramatically during his absence, he reconnects with his childhood friends while becoming entangled in Havana’s underground economy. Faced with the possibility of leaving Cuba, Elvis must choose between an uncertain future abroad and his loyalty to the people and place he calls home.
The film stars César Domínguez alongside Camila Rodhe and Omar Rolando. Shot in Havana with handheld camerawork and natural light, Malecón was conceived by Larrazabal as a portrait of the everyday struggles and resilience of Cubans, approaching the country through the intimate relationships of its characters rather than through political or nostalgic clichés.
Malecón had its world premiere at the Miami Film Festival in April 2025 and subsequently served as the Closing Night selection of the Havana Film Festival New York, where it had its local premiere. The film later competed in the Latin American Feature Film Competition at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival.
Based in Los Angeles, Larrazabal studied cinematography at Madrid’s ECAM before continuing his studies at Cuba’s Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños. He later developed Malecón through the Sundance Co//ab screenwriting program.
Cuba first submitted a film to the Academy Awards in 1978 and has earned one nomination in the category to date: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío’s landmark Strawberry and Chocolate / Fresa y chocolate, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards. More recent Cuban submissions have included Fernando Pérez’s The World of Nelsito / El mundo de Nelsito, Jorge Luis Sánchez’s Buscando a Casal, Rodrigo and Sebastián Barriuso’s A Translator / Un traductor, and Ernesto Daranas’s Sergio & Sergei.
