Proa Auditorium: Buenos Aires on the screen

Season of Argentinean films
August – Saturdays and Sundays
General Coordination: David Oubiña
Reservations 4104-1000 / auditorio@proa.org

Buenos Aires on the screen is a season of Argentinean films coordinated by David Oubiña. It presents the work of Argentine filmmakers that undertake the theme of the city from different perspectives, discovering a renovated view of Buenos Aires. The season will run from Saturday 8 until the 30th of August.

The program goes through different moments of national cinema. It starts from the renowned "Invasión" directed by Hugo Santiago dating from the sixties all the way to the urban geographies of young filmmakers of today, as in "A propósito de Buenos Aires" – a series of stories by directors that stem from Fundación Universidad del Cine. The season will present as well: "Notas de Tango" by Rafael Filippelli a combination of fiction and documentary that examines the relationships between Buenos Aires and Tango, and "Oscar" by Sergio Morkin, a documentary of an artist/cab-driver whose urban interventions mark a view of Buenos Aires before the 2001 crisis. Finally, "Castro" by Alejo Moguillansky, a tour through urban chaos at high speed, closes the series.

The Program

"Invasión" (1969) Hugo Santiago. 123'
Monday 17 15:00 hs. / Saturday 29 13:00 hs. / Sunday 30 17:00 hs.
Tells the story of a city under siege, Aquilea that resembles Buenos Aires. There, a group of men commanded by an old man – civilians- tries to resist the city’s invasion. The invaders, powerful men dressed in gabardine, introduce a machinery to generate a mass invasion. During the film, the spectator understands that the invasion is absolute and impossible to define, hence the defeat of the defenders is evident.
The script of the movie was written by Hugo Santiago in collaboration with Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares. The plot starts from a detectives’ story and evolves towards the fantastic genre, showing a progressive estrangement of the situations.

"Notas de Tango" (2000) Rafael Filippelli. 88'
Saturday 15 15:00 hs. / Sunday 23 15:00 hs. / Saturday 29 19:00 hs.
It is a combination of documentary and fiction that shows a movie director trying to shoot a film on Tango.  It follows him through the search of the main actor till he works on pre-production and interviews dancers, musicians, and critics for his research. The movie asks what are the implications of making a film on Tango.

"Oscar" (2004) Sergio Morkin. 61'
Saturday 22 15:00 hs. / Sunday 23 17:00 hs. / Sunday 30 13:00 hs.
A documentary that portrays the life of a man who, after the economic crisis finds himself having to drive a taxi 12 hours a day in order to earn a living. During his trips, he is constantly drawn to the high level of visual exposure found in the city of Buenos Aires. In the truck of his 504 Peugeot he carries bottles of glue, painting, and cuttings of banners. Whenever the taxi is free, he stops the car, gets a stair and intervenes a street advertisement using painting and collage techniques.

"A propósito de Buenos Aires" (2006) VV.AA. 80'
Sunday 16 15:00 hs. / Monday 17 17:00 hs. /  Saturday 29 15:00 hs
A collective experiment centered on Buenos Aires, shot by 11 directors with 32 characters. It is organized in five parts: the trap, money, the desert, the lights, and the dead. Edited by Alejo Moguillansky, the different sequences follow each other without a cut hence each author cannot be identified. Black and white images build an urban perspective that stands outside the conventions of today’s cinema. Two themes organize the film: work and state terrorism.

"Castro" (2009) Alejo Moguillansky. 85'
Sunday 30 19:00 hs.
A group characters are searching Castro but we don’t know why: Samuel, Willie, Rebeca Thompson and, keeping its distance, Acuña. The fact is that Castro has left the city with Celia. He’s escaping and believes that if he finds a job that will jeopardize his relationship. It is a movie about the speed of cinema that has two constants: persecution and confinement. With the perfect timing of slapstick comedy and using speech and narrative secret as in film noir, Castro goes on sorting obstacles through urban chaos.

Los directores

Hugo Santiago Muchnik (Buenos Aires, 1939)
Has developed an experimental and avant-garde aesthetic, characterized by its deepness and rebelliousness in respect to the classic montage. He began his studies focusing on music, literature, and philosophy. Then he started his career in cinema assisting Robert Bresson in France. "Invasión" was his first film. It was followed by: "El lobo de la costa Oeste" (2002), "Las veredas de Saturno" (1985), "Les Trois Couronnes du Matelot" (1982), "El juego del poder" (1978), "Colloque de Chiens" (1977), "Los Otros" (1974). He is considered a cult director that has created a secret and influential filmography.

Rafael Filipelli (Buenos Aires,1938)
He is a filmmaker and a screenwriter. He has work in several films of Leopoldo Torre Nilson and, has also work in advertising. His first short film, "Porque hoy es sábado", from 1961, and his short feature film "Opinaron" (1970) were their first films before his exile in Mexico in 1976 and in Los Angeles in 1982. His first feature film was Hay unos tipos abajo, which he co-directed with Emilio Alfaro in 1985. His work includes: "El ausente" (1987), "Imágenes más sonidos" (1990), "Buenos Aires I" (1991), "Buenos Aires II" (1992), "José Aricó" (1992), "Buenos Aires III" (1993), "El río" (1993), "Retrato de Juan José Saer" (1996), "Lavelli" (1996), "Una actriz" (1997), "Notas de tango" (2000), "Una noche" (2002), y "Esas cuatro notas" (2004). He is considered one of the most important intellectuals of Argentinean cinema.

Sergio Morkin (Buenos Aires, 1969)
When he finished high school, started studying Psychology at Universidad de Buenos Aires. Three years later, he quit that to study cinema. In 1992 he graduated from the Contemporary Cinema School of Vicente López and, in 1996 he started teaching there. He has taught acting and actors directing courses, and has directed fiction short films, institutional films, and advertisements. "Oscar" is his first feature film.

"A propósito de Buenos Aires" – varios autores
Manuel Ferrari, Alejo Franzetti, Martín Kalina, Cecilia Libster, Francisco Pedemonte, Clara Picasso, Matías Piñeiro, Juan Ronco, Andrea Santamaría, Malena Solarz, and Nicolás Zukerfeld are all part of  Fundación Universidad del Cine (FUC).

Alejo Moguillansky (Buenos Aires, 1978)
He is part of the group of filmmakers known as El Pampero Cine together with Mariano Llinás, Laura Citarilla, and Agustín Mendilaharzy. His filmography includes: "Un modo romántico de vivir su vida" (1999), "Lola / Gonzalo (C/S)" (2001), "La prisionera" (2006), and "Borges/Santiago. Variaciones sobre un guión" (2008).