Page 41 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

A POR TR AIT OF ARGENTINA  39

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 Madonna in Alan Parker’s popular
loyal following, particu­ musical Evita
larly in Buenos Aires, as
many of them star local actor Cecilia Roth. Argentina has
also become a popular location for directors shooting
The brutality of the Dirty War inspired fea ture films, such as Alan Parker’s Evita (1996). More
Luis Puenzo’s La Historia Oficial (1985), recently Brazilian director Walter Salles’s The Motorcycle
which deals with the military junta Diaries (2004) was enjoyed by Argentinians for its familiar
kid nappings during the 1970s and 1980s. locations and for reminding the world that Che Guevara
He was the first Argentinian to win an was one of their compatriots.
Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

New Argentinian cinema developed in the 1990s, when a
group of young direc tors made films on shoestring budgets,
often employing non­actors 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,
home­grown 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, The latter-day legacy of Teatro Abierto is the
heralded the return of democracy. La Boca’s thriving off­Corrientes scene, where radical actors
popular theater troupe Grupo Teatro Catalinas Sur perform in small venues. Formerly an under ground
performs plays that offer audi ences a grotesque street theater com pany, De La Guarda toured their
take on modern urban reality with underlying dialogue­free show Villa Villa round the world in
political and social themes. the late 1990s to huge acclaim.

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