Colombia’s International Feature Oscar submission El ovido que seremos (English title: Memories of My Father) hails from Oscar-winning Spanish director Fernando Trueba and stars Spanish legend Javier Cámara. It’s based on the memoir by Héctor Abad Faciolince about his father who was a doctor, professor and an activist for social justice who was murdered in 1987 by Colombian paramilitaries.

A love letter from son to father, the book was “so dear” to Trueba’s heart that he had given it to friends and family many times over the years. “It’s a book you don’t give to just anyone, you give it to people you really care for,” he says during Deadline’s Contenders International award-season event, where he also talked about making the decision to turn the subject matter into a film.

Even though one of his first thoughts was, “What a pity that Javier Cámara is not Colombian,...