Fernando Birri
Encyclopedia
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
, March 13, 1925) is an Argentinian film maker and theorist. He is considered by many to be the father of the new Latin American cinema.
Birri was born in Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
. After being involved in theater and poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, he went to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to study film-making at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia was established in 1935 in Italy and aims to promote the art and technique of cinematography and film....
, from 1950 to 1953, and appeared in the 1955 Italian film Gli Sbandati
The Abandoned (1955 film)
Abandoned. The Runaways or The Abandoned was the United States title for the 1955 Italian film Gli Sbandati, set during the aftermath of the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 during World War II .-Cast:*Lucia Bosé - Lucia...
. In 1956 he returned to Santa Fe, to form the Film Institute at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral university. A year later he started filming scenes of poverty and human misery in lower-class Santa Fe. The project, billed as a "survey film", spanned three years, and filming wrapped up in 1958. Before screening the resulting 33-minute documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Tire dié
Tire dié
Tire dié is an Argentine documentary directed by Fernando Birri and written Birri and seven other writers. The short film, billed as a "survey film", chronicles the harsh life of lower-class slums in Santa Fe, Argentina.-Production history:...
, Birri first debuted with a short film in 1959, called La primera fundación de Buenos Aires. The documentary itself premiered in 1960, earning Birri critical acclaim and paving his way for further projects of similar nature, like Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (1960) and more famously Los inundados (1961), which won the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
award for Best First Film.
After directing a short film about La Pampa (La pampa gringa) in 1963, Birri retired from directing and only returned 12 years later to make a movie about Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Mi hijo el Che) in 1985. His next film, also about El Che, was filmed in 1997 (Che, ¿muerte de una utopía?), but remained commercially unreleased. Birri has since done two more movies - El siglo del viento (1999) and ZA 05. Lo viejo y lo nuevo (2006).
Birri is currently a visiting professor for fall 2009 at Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
in Medford, Massachusetts. He is teaching two courses: Latin American Documentary Workshop, and New Latin American Film.
Filmography
As director:- Elegia Fruilana (2007)
- ZA 05. Lo viejo y lo nuevo (2006)
- El siglo del viento (1999)
- Che, ¿muerte de una utopía? (unreleased commercially - 1997)
- Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes (1988)
- Mi hijo el Che (1985)
- La pampa gringa (short film - 1963)
- Los inundados (1961)
- Buenos días, Buenos Aires (short film - 1960)
- Tire diéTire diéTire dié is an Argentine documentary directed by Fernando Birri and written Birri and seven other writers. The short film, billed as a "survey film", chronicles the harsh life of lower-class slums in Santa Fe, Argentina.-Production history:...
(medium length film - 1960) - La primera fundación de Buenos Aires (short film - 1959)
As writer:
- ZA 05. Lo viejo y lo nuevo (2006)
- Los inundados (1961)
- Tire diéTire diéTire dié is an Argentine documentary directed by Fernando Birri and written Birri and seven other writers. The short film, billed as a "survey film", chronicles the harsh life of lower-class slums in Santa Fe, Argentina.-Production history:...
(medium length film - 1960)