/ARTS WEEKLY/ARGENTINA: Award-Winning Film Industry Seeks Audiences

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 13 2004 (IPS) - Encouraged by an abundant harvest of international awards, the Argentine film industry will premiere twice as many titles in 2004 than in 1951, the most productive year until now.

But the diverse and critically acclaimed output draws few spectators in the local market, who seem to be more interested in the blockbusters coming out of Hollywood.

To generate bigger audiences, the National Institute of Film and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA), entrusted with fomenting the Argentine film industry, came up with the idea of a circuit of screenings to disseminate the works in a systematic way. There have been 20 since July around the country, and the network is set to expand abroad.

The aim is to create spaces that ensure that nationally made films continue to be shown, beyond the short periods on the marquees of commercial cinemas, whose owners often push them aside for the mega-productions coming from the United States, usually preceded by massive publicity campaigns.

The first "INCAA Space" was inaugurated in Buenos Aires at the Gaumont cinema, located near the National Congress, which serves as the zero-kilometre point for Argentina’s road system.

Each of the "spaces" launched in the country’s interior is named for the distance in kilometres from the national capital.

Through this network, the Argentine films that have reaped success at international showings and festivals can reach other cities throughout the country. The flip-side is that INCAA supports the cinemas involved by financing that work needed to become operational.

Argentine film was born with film itself in the late 19th century, and since then has been through dramatic ups and downs in production. In the 1950s, considered the "golden age", 54 movies premiered each year on average, but there were down years, like in the 1990s, when the industry was lucky to see a dozen debuts.

Since then – and, perhaps ironically, to the extent that the socio-economic crisis intensified – the number of new films crept upwards, nearing 50 a year once again. And this year, more than 100 are expected to make their premiere on the big screen.

Experts attribute this giant leap in the number of films made in Argentina to the rapid expansion of film schools throughout the 1990s, when in parallel to the economic crisis they multiplied from two to 30, and the number of students mushroomed from a hundred to more than 10,000.

More and more films are premiering each year, many of them made by novice directors who are winning awards at international festivals and Argentine film exhibitions in other countries.

A recent example of Argentina’s presence on the international scene was this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where "El brazo partido", by Daniel Burman, won the Silver Bear, and director Fernando Solanas was honoured with a Golden Bear for his career achievements, which include "La hora de los hornos" (Hour of the Ovens, 1968), "El exilio de Gardel" (Tango: The Exile of Gardel, 1985), "Sur" (South, 1987) and "Memorias del saqueo" (A Social Genocide, 2003).

But there are many more prize-winning directors. Jorge Coscia, head of INCAA, estimates that in the past few years Argentine films have received more than 80 awards abroad.

Nevertheless, the local audiences are not their keenest followers, which means the films have only short lifespans on Argentine marquees.

Since the "INCAA Spaces" were launched, the institute has been signing agreements with cultural centres to show the films that, in spite of their international prestige, are not box-office hits, but also to screen works from other countries in Latin America, or Europe.

In a conversation with IPS, Victor Bassuk, INCAA international affairs director, explained that the project seeks to "train the public" to get out to see more Argentine films, and is complemented by another programme to "promote consumption" of films from abroad.

Beginning in January, the Argentine consulate in New York has operated an INCAA Space Kilometre 9,300, which screens an Argentine film each week, free and open to the public.

"We started with a series of documentaries about Argentine musicians, and that was very well received," said Bassuk.

"We can’t compete with the (commercial) distributors, but we are working to create a need, and so that later private companies will place our product in that new market," he said.

The idea now is to open the doors to Argentine films in the capitals of France, Spain and Italy in early May. In Paris, the INCAA Space will operate in the Argentine embassy; in Madrid in the Colegio Mayor, an institution of Argentina’s ministry education in Spain; and in Rome in the Casa Argentina.

The films are shown with their original soundtrack, and subtitled versions are shown in countries where the predominant language is not Spanish.

"Admission is free because we want our film industry to be known amongst critics, the curious and students, who in the future can help disseminate Argentine films abroad – and conquer new markets," summarised Bassuk.