Olivos (Argentina), 1936

By Afrânio Mendes Catani

Argentine filmmaker Fernando Ezequiel Solanas directed the short films Seguir andando (1962) and Reflexión ciudadana (1963). Alongside Octavio Getino, he made the documentary La hora de los hornos (1968), divided into three parts titled “Neocolonialism and Violence,” “Act for Liberation,” and “Violence and Liberation.” This first feature-length film of his was considered a classic of Latin American documentary filmmaking. Together with other Argentine filmmakers, he directed the documentary Argentina, mayo de 1969: los caminos de la liberación (1969). He co-directed two more documentaries with Octavio Getino: Perón: actualización política y doctrinaria para toma del poder and La revolución justicialista (both in 1971). His first fictional feature film, the drama Los hijos de Fierro (1972), was based on the poem by José Hernández. While exiled in France, he made the documentary Le regard des autres (1980).

His subsequent works were co-productions between Argentina and France, beginning with the musical about Argentine exiles in France, Tangos, el exilio de Gardel (1985). He directed the dramas Sur (1988) and El viaje (1992) – the latter being a co-production between Argentina, France, Spain, and Mexico. In collaboration with France, he directed the drama La nube (1998). Based on a story by Chilean writer Isabel Allende (Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses), the film Afrodita, el sabor del amor (2002) remains unfinished to this day. His subsequent films were the documentaries Memoria del saqueo (2004) and La dignidad de los nadies (2005).