/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CINEMA-ARGENTINA: Filmmaking Renaissance Amid Tough Financial Straits

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 28 2000 (IPS) - Despite – or because of – its economic difficulties, the Argentine filmmaking industry is enjoying a boom, in terms of the quantity of the movies produced and the quality of some, as well as the renewed enthusiasm among the movie-going public for home-grown productions.

After Hollywood films, locally-produced works draw the biggest crowds in Argentina’s movie theatres. They have also been popular in France, Denmark and Italy.

This year, Britain’s Screen Digest listed the Argentine filmmaking industry as the world’s ninth largest producer of films, and the top producer in Latin America, with a total investment of around 133 million dollars in 1999.

The Screen Digest list is headed by the United States, with 8.7 billion dollars invested in the national filmmaking industry, followed by Japan (1.05 billion), Britain (818 million), France (723 million), Germany (380 million), Canada (226 million) and Spain (168 million).

So far this year there have been 41 new releases in Argentina, which have drawn a combined audience of around 6.2 million. In addition, 114 films are either being shot or are ready to hit the theatres, according to the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts, which has a budget of just 30 million dollars a year to support local filmmakers.

This year’s figures are large compared to the corresponding numbers from the 1980s, when the movie-going audience was three times as large, but turned out mainly for Hollywood blockbusters and European film festivals, and when very few national productions were released.

The number of local releases has doubled in the past two years. But even more revealing in terms of the improved quality of local films and the new “romance” with the public is the fact that while 26 nationally- produced films were screened in 1996, they drew a total audience of just 350,000 – a tiny fraction of this year’s 6.2 million.

While the apparent renaissance of the Argentine filmmaking industry began to be noticed in 1999, this year the tendency was not only confirmed, but some local productions became box office hits, including a film-opera, ‘Nueve Reinas’ (Nine Queens), an unexpected success.

Indeed, Fabian Belinsky is still having a hard time explaining the success of the first work he produced as a screenwriter and director. The film has already drawn a public of around 1.1 million, many of whom say they were pleasantly surprised. “It doesn’t seem like an Argentine film,” said one movie-goer when interviewed as he emerged from a local cinema.

‘Nueve Reinas’ has a fast-moving, entertaining script, and the acting is very natural, according to film critics, who find fault, however, with what they call the movie’s overly moralising tone.

Well-known local actors took the plunge and agreed to work with Belinsky, a novice filmmaker. The film’s success has made noted actors more willing to give a chance to screenplays from young filmmakers armed only with shoestring budgets and great enthusiasm, determination, and fresh creativity.

Critics say ‘Nueve Reinas’ is an unusually successful portrayal of two average Buenos Aires residents who are on the look-out for easy money, which they obtain through scams by exhibiting ingenuity, charm and craftiness.

Other local works have packed movie theatres this year as well. ‘Felicidades’ (Congratulations or Best Wishes), by another novice, Lucho Bender, did not do as well at the box office as ‘Nueve Reinas’, but a council of film directors, producers and actors identified it as a candidate for an Oscar for best foreign-made film.

Another top-notch production, which has drawn 623,000 movie-goers, was ‘Plata Quemada’ (Burnt Money) by Marcelo Pyñeiro, based on a novel by Argentine writer Ricardo Piglia.

A new screening, ‘El asadito’ (The Delightful Barbecue), released this month, promises to be another smash success even though it was filmed in black and white. The film tells the story of a group of friends from a marginalised part of town who get together for a traditional Rio de la Plata “asado” or barbecue on the terrace of an apartment building.

Last year, the national film industry was already on an upward trend, with 37 releases drawing 5.5 million movie-goers. But the film that was the driving force behind that phenomenon, although immensely popular, was blasted by the critics.

‘Manuelita’, an animated film for children, was a hit that drew an audience of 2.25 million, although connoisseurs writing in the specialised publication ‘El amante’ considered it a mediocre movie inspired purely by the profit motive.

But despite the harshly-worded reviews, young movie-goers made ‘Manuelita’ the biggest smash hit among local productions last year, which led to the film’s presentation as a candidate for the Oscar for the best foreign- made film – a decision blasted as a “disgrace” by independent filmmakers.

Other popular movies have also earned low marks from the critics, thus giving rise to two currents of production: the purely commercial works aimed at taking the market by storm, and independent films with artistic pretensions or motivations.

One characteristic of this year’s production, however, was that not only the commercial works were successful, but several of the more “artsy” creations as well.

The National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts points out that the filmmaking industry not only has cultural and artistic value, but also makes an important contribution to the economy. For example, each film directly creates jobs for at least 60 people, not to mention the services that are contracted.

Thus, despite the difficulties faced by the Institute, which has outstanding loan payments to many filmmakers and will have an even smaller budget in 2001, the Argentine film industry has not only endured, but is actually growing.