The Uruguayan Film Institute on Tuesday announced that Federico Veiroj’s The Moneychanger will be the country’s submission in the international feature film category of the 2020 Academy Awards.
A 1970s-set dramedy-thriller starring Uruguay’s top actor-director Daniel Hendler (The Candidate, To Fool a Thief) and Argentina’s Dolores Fonzi (The Summit), The Moneychanger follows protagonist Humberto Brause (Hendler), a man who furiously throws himself into the buying and selling of currency supported by his father-in-law, a veteran in the business of capital flight. Consumed by his outsized ambition and compulsive drive, Humberto assumes the direction of the family business and accepts a suspicious assignment: laundering the largest sum of money he has ever seen.
Produced by Rizoma and Oriental Features and based on the novel of the same name by Juan Gruber, The Moneychanger is set to premiere Sunday in Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform competition, and also will screen at the San Sebastian and New York film fests. Sales are being handled by Film Factory Entertainment.
The Moneychanger is Federico Veiroj’s fifth film — following Acne, A Useful Life, The Apostate and Belmonte — and first Oscar bid.
Uruguay has yet to obtain an Oscar nomination.
The 92nd Academy Awards are due to take place Feb. 9, 2020.
