The best Argentine films of all time
The top 3 according to 21 votes from people: Invasion · The Employee · La Ciénaga. (Updated Aug 19, 2025.)
The top ten of the 2022 Argentine Cinema Survey (546 voters among critics, filmmakers and researchers, presented at Mar del Plata) plus the Argentine films most awarded and loved by audiences.
Automatically translated (original in Español). See the original
Top 20
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1
Invasion
Hugo Santiago, 1969. A besieged city, written by Borges and Bioy Casares.
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2
The Employee
Leonardo Favio, 1969. A hardware-shop clerk waits to inherit his boss's store.
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3
La Ciénaga
Lucrecia Martel, 2001. Two families in a stifling Salta summer; number one in the 2022 survey by a wide margin.
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4
Juan, as if Nothing Had Happened
Carlos Echeverría, 1987. A documentary about the only person disappeared in Bariloche during the dictatorship.
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5
Nine Queens
Fabián Bielinsky, 2000. Ricardo Darín and Gastón Pauls, con men and a set of fake stamps.
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6
The Secret in Their Eyes
Juan José Campanella, 2009. A murder unsolved since 1974; Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
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7
Argentina, 1985
Santiago Mitre, 2022. Ricardo Darín as prosecutor Julio Strassera in the Trial of the Juntas.
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8
The Headless Woman
Lucrecia Martel, 2008. María Onetto believes she has run someone over on the road.
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9
Dark River
Hugo del Carril, 1952. Exploited labourers on the yerba mate plantations of the Upper Paraná.
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10
Chinese Take-Away
Sebastián Borensztein, 2011. Darín as a grumpy hardware dealer and a lost Chinese man in Buenos Aires.
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11
Time for Revenge
Adolfo Aristarain, 1981. Federico Luppi pretends to have lost his voice to sue a mining company.
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12
The Hour of the Furnaces
Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, 1968. A militant documentary over four hours long, shot clandestinely.
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13
Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes
Adrián Caetano and Bruno Stagnaro, 1998. Young petty thieves in Buenos Aires; the start of New Argentine Cinema.
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14
Silvia Prieto
Martín Rejtman, 1999. A woman discovers another woman with the same name; dry Buenos Aires humour.
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15
The Official Story
Luis Puenzo, 1985. A teacher discovers her adopted daughter may be the child of the disappeared; Argentina's first Oscar.
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16
Wild Tales
Damián Szifron, 2014. Six tales of revenge; the most-watched Argentine film of its time and Oscar-nominated.
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17
Waiting for the Hearse
Alejandro Doria, 1985. A black family comedy with Antonio Gasalla as Mamá Cora; lines quoted for generations.
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18
The Blonds
Albertina Carri, 2003. The director investigates her parents' disappearance using Playmobil figures.
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19
Chronicle of a Boy Alone
Leonardo Favio, 1965. A boy escapes from a reformatory; Favio's debut.
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20
Crane World
Pablo Trapero, 1999. A former musician learns to operate a crane; black-and-white Buenos Aires neorealism.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (1)
La Ciénaga primera, coincido con la encuesta de la revista La vida útil. Lucrecia Martel es una genia.