Fernando Birri

In 1997 the Argentine filmmaker Fernando Birri returned to his home country to film a documentary on the 30th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara and the relevance of utopias at that time. Carmen Guarini decided to record those moments. A rough edit of this film was hidden away on a fragile VHS tape for twenty years. Today, these images come to life and shed some light on the life of this Latin American poet and master filmmaker, who, at the age of 92, still refused to give up on his own utopias.

Few people in Argentine and Latin American cinema have been as close as Fernando Birri to stand as a patriarch, pioneer, and spokesman for a committed cinema that tears itself apart in its solidarity with its own surroundings. This ode to the tireless Birri presents him to us in full: teaching, establishing standards, and creating with the tools of his time, turning culture into a form of political affirmation as he grows more and more vital and rooted.

Tres jóvenes se proponen realizar una película sobre un presunto director de cine que reside en un psiquiátrico en Buenos Aires. El hombre desapareció del circuito cinematográfico después de que una joven actriz fuera asesinada en los años sesenta.

Documentary film about Argentinian filmmaker Fernando Birri. An interview: a journey through documentary filmmaking, his childhood, the dawning of New Latin American cinema...

A version of El Estatola del Campo's poetic Faust of the Poet (1886) integrates the major trilogy of Argentine gaucho poetry, is proposed here in a faithful version and integral.

Un recorrido por la vida y la obra del artista argentino Ricardo Carpani, de la mano de su compañera de toda la vida, Doris, quien con su propia voz, guía el relato. La formación artística de Ricardo, su militancia, el exilio, su pensamiento y la importancia de su producción pictórica, considerada un símbolo de la lucha política de los años 50, 60 y 70. Un documento histórico único sobre una figura emblemática, con testimonios de grandes personalidades del arte y la política argentina, como Fernando Birri, Horacio Verbitsky, Pedro Orgambide, Roberto "Tito" Cossa, Pino Solanas, Ernesto Laclau, Luis Felipe Noé, María D'Adamo, Víctor de Gennaro, Rafael Squirru, entre otros. La película fue producida en el 2006 y estrenada en el 2009.

Documental sobre el exilio del realizador brasileño Glauber Rocha en Cuba durante 1971 y un diálogo entre el Cinema Novo de Brasil y el cine revolucionario cubano. Dos entrevistas grabadas en La Habana y la Estética del sueño, fueron puntos de partida de este filme que no es sobre Glauber, sino a través de Glauber. Rocha que voa es un documental que demuestra que el cine político, poético, revolucionario y de ficción de Glauber Rocha (como el de nuestro Raymundo Gleyzer) no es un cine que gusta. Es un cine que apasiona.

Este documental deconstruye la vida de mi padre, Carlos Ragone, a partir de su obra como fotógrafo y reportero gráfico: padre e hija, fotografías y audiovisual, memoria e imaginación se entremezclan.

What does Che Guevara"s mythic presence represent to people at the turn of the century, and how do people define their concept of utopia?

Testimonios sobre la vida y obra del escritor y periodista Osvaldo Soriano.

Narrated [not only] with puppets, a dramatic vision of Latin America throughout the 20th century with its constant ferment of dictatorships, hunger, corruption, civil wars, heroic episodes and spilled blood.

Narrated [not only] with puppets, a dramatic vision of Latin America throughout the 20th century with its constant ferment of dictatorships, hunger, corruption, civil wars, heroic episodes and spilled blood.

Documental que conmemora los cien años del cine en Latinoamérica y nos habla sobre los orígenes y el desarrollo del cine en este subcontinente. Su estructura está basada en 12 cortometrajes dirigidos por varios directores latinoamericanos. Estos son: 1) "Los inicios", Iván Trujillo 2) "Cuando comenzamos a hablar", María Novaro 3) "Jugando en serio", Jacobo Morales 4) "De cuerpo presente [Las espirales perpetuas del placer y el poder] Cine Mexicano [1931- 1997]", Marcela Fernández Violante 5) "Cuando quisimos ser adultos", Edmundo Aray y David Rodríguez 6) "Cinema Novo", Orlando Senna 7) "Memorias de una isla, Juan Carlos Tabío 8) "Un grito, 24 cuadros por segundo", Julio García-Espinosa 9) "El día de la independencia", Federico García 10) "¿Sólo las formas permanecen?", Fernando Birri y Pablo Rodríguez Gauregui 11) "Todo final es un principio", Andrés Marriquín.

¿Qué pasa por la mente de alguien 13 segundos antes de morir? Un pueblo perdido en el año 40. Distintos personajes en sus acciones comunes. Dos hombres tirados en la calle, uno muerto, el otro haciéndose el muerto. Entre la realidad y los delirios de su mente recorremos sus últimos trece segundos de vida.

An elderly man with wings is blown off course during a tropical storm in this symbolic fantasy. The Old Man lands near a Caribbean island where a poor family gives him shelter in a chicken coop. Father Gonzaga is the skeptical priest who rushes to damn the creature. Soon the Old Man is the subject of curiosity seekers as Elisinda and Pelayo start charging admission. A traveling carnival of human oddities camps near the Old Man as people flock to see the show. The Old Man is reduced to being an unwanted pet, and after six years, he mends his wings and flies away. Nudity, simulated sex with a spider woman, and the ugliness of human exploitation definitely put this fantasy in a category not for children.

An elderly man with wings is blown off course during a tropical storm in this symbolic fantasy. The Old Man lands near a Caribbean island where a poor family gives him shelter in a chicken coop. Father Gonzaga is the skeptical priest who rushes to damn the creature. Soon the Old Man is the subject of curiosity seekers as Elisinda and Pelayo start charging admission. A traveling carnival of human oddities camps near the Old Man as people flock to see the show. The Old Man is reduced to being an unwanted pet, and after six years, he mends his wings and flies away. Nudity, simulated sex with a spider woman, and the ugliness of human exploitation definitely put this fantasy in a category not for children.

An elderly man with wings is blown off course during a tropical storm in this symbolic fantasy. The Old Man lands near a Caribbean island where a poor family gives him shelter in a chicken coop. Father Gonzaga is the skeptical priest who rushes to damn the creature. Soon the Old Man is the subject of curiosity seekers as Elisinda and Pelayo start charging admission. A traveling carnival of human oddities camps near the Old Man as people flock to see the show. The Old Man is reduced to being an unwanted pet, and after six years, he mends his wings and flies away. Nudity, simulated sex with a spider woman, and the ugliness of human exploitation definitely put this fantasy in a category not for children.

En la selva amazónica y andina, un explorador extranjero busca la magia de la cultura pre-colombina. Pronto comienza a perder el sentido de la lógica, porque su cultura occidental choca con la mitología de los dioses de la selva. Inicia un interminable viaje hacia la locura, y la aparición de campesinos y aborígenes de la selva contribuye a su total confusión.

This documentary is a portrait made in Mexico by a group of Argentine exiles, directed by the painter Nicolás Amoroso.

This documentary is a portrait made in Mexico by a group of Argentine exiles, directed by the painter Nicolás Amoroso.

Explores the complex relationship between the spirit, body, and mind. The film is a nightmare with closed eyes because it counts among the most terrible moments of my life, my second exile, which lasted a very long time. Inspired by an ancient Hindu legend.

Explores the complex relationship between the spirit, body, and mind. The film is a nightmare with closed eyes because it counts among the most terrible moments of my life, my second exile, which lasted a very long time. Inspired by an ancient Hindu legend.

Equal parts philosophical treatise and artist’s portrait, this short follows the thoughts and methods of Argentine artist Juan Carlos Castagnino, whose commitment to utopian thinking and radicalism mirror Birri’s own. “Living up to date is living one day in advance”, says the painter, as Birri will go on to pair Castagnino with both the Beatles and Argentine folk songs, cluing one in to his notion of keeping ties to the cultural and the radical present. - Spectacle Theater

Documentary that describes the awakening of the city and its daily movement.

“My life was the same as that of thousands of gringos: I plowed and sowed the land, and went to the bar on Sunday.” Such is the refrain throughout LA PAMPA GRINGA, which endeavors to relate the sense of community built by the European settlers who in 1865 first colonized the town of Esperanza, located in Birri’s native province of Santa Fe. Largely consisting of juxtaposed daguerreotypes from the period and newspaper printings, LA PAMPA GRINGA exhibits Birri’s ability to weave narratives out of historical documentation in deft, admirable form.

“My life was the same as that of thousands of gringos: I plowed and sowed the land, and went to the bar on Sunday.” Such is the refrain throughout LA PAMPA GRINGA, which endeavors to relate the sense of community built by the European settlers who in 1865 first colonized the town of Esperanza, located in Birri’s native province of Santa Fe. Largely consisting of juxtaposed daguerreotypes from the period and newspaper printings, LA PAMPA GRINGA exhibits Birri’s ability to weave narratives out of historical documentation in deft, admirable form.

Narra la historia de una familia de pocos recursos, habitantes del sur de la provincia de Santa Fe, que se ve forzada a mudarse a un vagón abandonado del ferrocarril hasta que bajen las aguas del río Salado.

Narra la historia de una familia de pocos recursos, habitantes del sur de la provincia de Santa Fe, que se ve forzada a mudarse a un vagón abandonado del ferrocarril hasta que bajen las aguas del río Salado.

In 1956, the humorous designer Oski made a work about the foundation of the city of Buenos Aires. Fernando Birri made a film from this work in 1959, using the original text of the German explorer Ulrich Schmidel. This film, which disappeared in the years of the dictatorship, was miraculously restored on video in 2000. The story that the documentary describes can be compared with the situation of Latin American cinema throughout all these years.

Everyday the children of the neighborhood known as "Tire Dié", in the city of Santa Fe, wait for the train to ask for money, shouting "Tire dié!" (toss me a dime!) to the passengers. Considered the first survey-on-film in Latin America.

Everyday the children of the neighborhood known as "Tire Dié", in the city of Santa Fe, wait for the train to ask for money, shouting "Tire dié!" (toss me a dime!) to the passengers. Considered the first survey-on-film in Latin America.

Ambientada en la II Guerra Mundial, drama sobre la resistencia italiana, con muchos de sus personajes característicos. El protagonista es un burgués despreocupado que se enamora de una partisana italiana. La mayor parte del film trata sobre el choque cultural entre la clase alta fascista y la resistencia.

Atila y sus guerreros arrasan el norte de Europa, reduciendo a todo el que se atreva a oponerse a ellos. Sólo la proverbial entereza del Papa Leo I convencerá a Atila de abandonar su devastador saqueo de la Península italiana...

A young boy, about to take his first communion, must wrestle with his familial loyalty and his conscience when there is a fire at their local cinema where his brother works and it is clear that he is involved in the theft of the projector. Determined to right the wrong done by his sibling, he attempts to make amends.

La vida cotidiana de un escuadrón de la caballería francesa a principios de siglo XX.

Short documentary drawing parallels between the Sicilian people and their history of profane visual representation.

Short documentary drawing parallels between the Sicilian people and their history of sacred visual representation.

SELINUNTE marks Birri’s first cinematic effort, made during his years studying at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia di Roma.