Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Foreign Films
Argentinians have
catholic tastes when it
comes to foreign films,
and love Woody Allen
and Disney as much as
French auteurs or their
local cineastes. The films
of Spanish director
Pedro Almodóvar have a
loyal following, particu-
larly in Buenos Aires, as
many of them star local actor Cecilia Roth. Argentina has
also become a popular location for directors shooting
feature films, such as Alan Parker's
Evita
(1996). More
recently Brazilian director Walter Salles's
The Motorcycle
Diaries
(2004) was enjoyed by Argentinians for its familiar
locations and for reminding the world that Che Guevara
was one of their compatriots.
Madonna in Alan Parker's popular
musical
Evita
The brutality of the Dirty War
inspired
Luis Puenzo's
La Historia Oficial
(1985),
which deals with the military junta
kidnappings during the 1970s and 1980s.
He was the first Argentinian to win an
Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
New Argentinian cinema
developed in the 1990s, when a
group of young directors made films on shoestring budgets,
often employing non-actors to give a social realist feel to their
stories. The movement was started by Adrián Caetano and
Bruno Stagnaro's
Pizza, Birra, Faso
(1998).
Contemporary
Argentinian cinema
showcases directors who
have evolved a subtle,
home-grown approach
that deals with local
subjects.
Juan José
Campanella's
El Secreto de
sus Ojos
won the 2010
Academy Award for Best
Foreign Language Film.
Popular theater in the 1980s
, in some respects,
heralded the return of democracy. La Boca's
popular theater troupe Grupo Teatro Catalinas Sur
performs plays that offer audiences a grotesque
take on modern urban reality with underlying
political and social themes.
The latter-day legacy of Teatro Abierto
is the
thriving off-Corrientes scene, where radical actors
perform in small venues. Formerly an underground
street theater company, De La Guarda toured their
dialogue-free show
Villa Villa
round the world in
the late 1990s to huge acclaim.
