Paraguay has selected Marcelo Martinessi’s acclaimed sophomore feature Narciso as its official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. The film will also represent the South American country in the Best Ibero-American Film category at Spain’s Goya Awards. The selection was announced by the Academy of Cinema of Paraguay, following a vote by a committee of its members.
Starring Diro Romero, alongside Manuel Cuenca, Margarita Irún, Arturo Fleitas, Mona Martínez, and acclaimed Argentine actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Narciso had its world premiere earlier this year in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. It will next screen in the Horizontes Latinos section of the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
Set in Paraguay in 1959, under the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, Narciso follows a charismatic young man who returns from Buenos Aires with rock & roll in his veins. Desired by men and women alike, he becomes a radio sensation and an unlikely symbol of freedom in an increasingly repressive society. But after his final show, Narciso is found dead, setting in motion a mystery that exposes the fear, silence, and persecution underlying the country’s authoritarian regime.
Narciso marks Martinessi’s return to feature filmmaking following his internationally acclaimed 2018 debut, The Heiresses / Las herederas, which won two Silver Bears at the Berlinale and was selected as Paraguay’s submission for the 91st Academy Awards.
With Narciso, Martinessi once again turns to Paraguay’s history to examine repression, desire, and resistance, this time through a noir-inflected story in which the arrival of rock & roll collides with the violence and conservatism of the Stroessner era.
The shortlist for the 99th Academy Awards will be announced on December 15, 2026, with nominations to follow on January 21, 2027.
