Country guide · South America
9 Essential Films from Argentina + 7 Movies Set in or About Argentina
Argentina on the atlas: the strongest films of its own cinema, and the films the rest of the world has set there. Every list is curated and ranked by hand.
9 Essential Films from Argentina
Native cinema in Argentina’s own creative voice — the passport route that earns visas and citizenship.
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1. The Secret in Their Eyes
A retired Buenos Aires legal investigator sets out to write a novel about a decades-old rape and murder case that has haunted him for years, reopening old wounds and an unspoken love along the way. This Oscar-winning thriller moves between past and present as buried truths resurface.
Curator’s note: , memory, and violence.
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2. Wild Tales
Six darkly comic stories, unconnected but bound by a common thread, follow ordinary people pushed past their breaking point — a road-rage duel, a disastrous wedding, a demolitions engineer at war with bureaucracy, and more. A gleefully savage anthology about rage and revenge.
Curator’s note: A Spanish-language Argentine anthology film by Damian Szifron and a major modern Argentine hit.
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3. Nine Queens
Two con men join forces in Buenos Aires for the score of a lifetime: selling a sheet of rare counterfeit stamps to a wealthy collector. As the scheme grows more elaborate, it becomes impossible to tell who is conning whom. A tightly wound heist thriller.
Curator’s note: A Spanish-language Argentine heist classic set in Buenos Aires and considered an Argentine film classic.
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4. Argentina, 1985
Based on true events, a state prosecutor and a young, untested legal team take on the near-impossible task of putting the leaders of Argentina's murderous military dictatorship on trial. Against threats and a ticking clock, they build the case of their lives. A gripping courtroom drama.
Curator’s note: A Spanish-language Argentine courtroom drama about the Trial of the Juntas.
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5. The Official Story
In the final days of Argentina's dictatorship, a comfortable Buenos Aires history teacher begins to suspect that her adopted daughter may be the child of one of the regime's disappeared. Her growing doubt forces her to confront the truth beneath her sheltered life. An Oscar-winning drama.
Curator’s note: , adoption, and historical memory.
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6. Underdogs
A shy but gifted foosball player and the free-spirited girl he loves face ruin when an arrogant soccer superstar returns to their village bent on flattening it. In his hour of need, the little figures on his beloved foosball table magically come to life. An animated family adventure.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, primary country-origin context, or top-10 slot.
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7. Heroic Losers
In a small town in rural Buenos Aires province, a group of neighbors pools its savings to revive the local economy — only to be swindled out of everything when the country's banking collapse hits. Refusing to accept the loss, they hatch a plan to get their money back. A rousing caper comedy.
Curator’s note: Heroic Losers ranked among the strongest verified Argentina-authored features for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and importance within the national cinema.
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8. The Angel
Buenos Aires, 1971. A baby-faced, remorseless nineteen-year-old with a gift for theft and violence embarks on a spree of crime after falling in with a magnetic new partner. Based on the true story of one of Argentina's most notorious criminals.
Curator’s note: The Angel ranked among the strongest verified Argentina-authored features for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and importance within the national cinema.
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9. Tini: The Movie
A young pop star retreats to the Italian countryside for a transformative summer, where heartbreak and self-doubt give way to reinvention as an artist. A musical drama built around the teen idol Martina Stoessel.
Curator’s note: Candidate native film held back by curator: missing accepted native-language fit, primary country-origin context, or top-10 slot.
7 Movies Set in or About Argentina
Outside filmmakers looking toward Argentina: optional perspectives for a wider journey.
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1. Gilda
In a glittering Buenos Aires casino, a small-time gambler takes a job for a mysterious nightclub owner, only to discover that the boss's alluring new wife is the very woman who once broke his heart. A smoldering film noir of obsession and jealousy, and a Rita Hayworth icon.
Curator’s note: Gilda is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Argentina.
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2. The Hush
In 1978, two Italian journalists travel to Argentina to cover the World Cup, but behind the festivities they come face to face with the horror of the dictatorship and the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo searching for their vanished children. A drama about spectacle and conscience.
Curator’s note: The Hush is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Argentina.
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3. The House on Garibaldi Street
When Israeli intelligence receives word that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann may be hiding in Argentina under an assumed name, they mount a daring covert operation to identify and abduct him. Based on the true account of his capture.
Curator’s note: The House on Garibaldi Street is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Argentina.
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4. Operation Finale
In 1960, a team of Israeli agents travels to Argentina to capture Adolf Eichmann, the fugitive Nazi architect of the Holocaust, and smuggle him to Israel to stand trial. Based on a true story, it becomes a tense duel of nerves between captors and captive.
Curator’s note: Operation Finale is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Argentina.
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5. Tre mogli
Abandoned on New Year's Eve, three very different women learn that their husbands have pulled off a robbery and fled to Argentina. United by betrayal, they set off together across the ocean to track the men down. An Italian comedy-drama.
Curator’s note: Tre mogli is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Argentina.
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6. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The two daughters of a wealthy Argentine patriarch marry into French and German families, so that when World War II erupts and Nazi Germany occupies France, the once-united clan finds its members on opposite sides of the conflict. A sweeping wartime melodrama.
Curator’s note: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Argentina.
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7. Evita
Adapted from the hit stage musical, this film charts the meteoric rise of Eva Duarte from provincial obscurity to become the adored and reviled first lady of Argentina at Juan Perón's side. Told almost entirely in song, with Madonna in the title role.
Curator’s note: Evita is a strong foreign-authored film whose sustained setting or subject engages with Argentina.
Selected by the FilmsAroundThe.World editorial desk
Lists are ranked for craft, enduring reputation, influence, and depth of engagement with place. Native selections require a verified creative relationship to the country; souvenir selections require an outside creative lead and a country-centered story. Read the methodology.
Editorial review: 2026-07-13
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