‘Elefante Blanco’ masterfully narrates the raw and tragic realities of life in a Buenos Aires villa. It is a story of struggle, faith, crime and hope told through the lives of two priests and a social worker. With the use of complex characters and powerful scenery, the film manages to shed light on a difficult social issue that is often ignored by the masses.

In the opening scenes of the film, the viewer is taken to the Elefante Blanco, a massive and dilapidated grey building in the heart of a Buenos Aires villa. The building was once destined to be the largest hospital in all of Latin America but was never finished. After President Juan Domingo Perón was ousted in 1955, the building remained abandoned and became synonymous with stagnant poverty.

Elefante Blanco not only serves as the title of the film, but also captures the spirit and tone of the story. Like the building, the people living and working in the villas in and around Buenos Aires find themselves rundown but still standing with hope that things will one day improve. The film takes the audience to this reality and gives them a taste of its bitterness.

Argentina’s golden actor Ricardo Darín returns to the big screen to embody Gerónimo, a 45-year-old priest that invites younger priest Nicolas (Jérémie Renier) to work alongside him in his church located in Villa Virgen. Surrounded by an atmosphere of drug traffickers and poverty, the priests grapple with doubt and frustration. They are joined in their mission by Luciana (Martina Gusman), an atheist social worker that is looking to escape the risks of her current life.

Together, the three characters battle governmental corruption, church hierarchy, crime, marginalisation and multiple murders. As average citizens, they find themselves weak when confronting governmental powers. Despite these struggles, their passion to help the poor sustains them until a violent twist forces Nicolas to make a dramatic decision. In the end, it is friendship and faith that brings light to a setting of seemingly hopeless darkness.

The two hour film is bluntly raw and this, above all, sets it apart from other films covering similar topics. The priests are seen working amidst a bloody drug war that has as its victims teenagers and even young children. The police are shown as a brutish force that punishes the people in an animalistic manner. This violence gives viewers an intimate inside look into what life might really be like in the villas that so frequently make porteño headlines for the wrong reasons.

The scenes of conflict will leave the viewer both shocked and in awe. The loyalty of the priests to the people and their courage to bring change, however, provides a positive message of possibility. ‘Elefante Blanco’ is a must-see film that can both educate and inspire the masses. If anything, it will help motivate the viewer to get involved and not turn a blind eye to the atrocities occurring in the forgotten parts Buenos Aires.

As the 14th international BAFICI film festival gets underway and the city is awash with cinephiles, we thought we’d give you a run down of great Argentine directors so that you can hold your own this week when chatting to the moustache-twiddling, beret-sporting, Deleuze loving (that one’s for the real pros) film enthusiasts.

Far from a comprehensive list, our Top 5 Argentine Directors sets out to tell you five directors you should know about, and should give you plenty to chew on while BAFICI is underway.

Leopoldo Torre Nilsson

Leopoldo Torre Nilsson (1924-78)

The grandfather of Argentine film, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson helped bring prestige to Argentine cinema and was the most important figure in inspiring the younger generation of film-makers who started the new-wave in Argentine cinema at the beginning of the 1960s. According to international filmmaker Roman Polanski, he helped bring Argentine cinema up to international quality without ignoring subjects that were integral to Argentina.

Obsessed with the decline of the bourgeois society in his country, his films were often filled with sexual and societal frustration and peopled with dark characters with shadowy pasts who move in decadent environments. He directed. with humour and finesse.

Born in Buenos Aires, the son of the pioneering Argentine director, Leopoldo Torres Ríos, Leopoldo spent his formative years working under with his father and lost in the books of Jorge Luis Borges, Marcel Proust and James Joyce. His mother was an Argentine of Swedish descent and he cited her compatriot, the director Ingmar Bergman, as one of his greatest influences. He lived young and directed fast, making 30 features in little over 25 years.

His most fruitful collaboration was with his wife, the writer Beatriz Guido. Together, they adapted her novels ‘La mano en la trampa’ and ‘La casa del ángel’ into screenplays that became two of his most successful and critically acclaimed films. When the latter came out,  French filmmaker and critic Éric Rohmer called it “the best film to have arrived from South America since the beginnings of cinema.”

No stranger to Argentine literature, Torre Nilsson was a friend of the author Ernesto Sabato and also known for directing screenplays based on the work of other Argentine writers including Roberto Arlt, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Jorge Luis Borges, and gauchesque poet, José Hernández.

For more information find Leopoldo Torre Nilsson on IMDB or visit his website

Leonardo Favio

Leonardo Favio (born 1938)

Born Fuad Jorge Jury, Leonardo Favio lived through a tough childhood in a small town in the north of Mendoza. An Argentine of Syrian descent, he is a true artistic polymath who built a career out of directing, writing, composing, singing and acting. Much lauded in his home continent, many believe he never got the recognition he deserved on the international scene.

Working under the tutelage of Argentine director Torre Nilsson, he was invited to act in films at the end of the 1950s, and the beginning of his career as a director followed shortly after with the production of his first short film in 1960. Four years later, his debut feature ‘Crónica de un niño solo’ cemented his place at the forefront of Argentine cinema.

The influence of filmmakers like the Spanish born Luis Buñuel and founder of French new-wave cinema François Truffaut was evident, although his personal style and strong aesthetics also shone through. He turned the focus away from a popular fixation with the urban bourgeoisie, towards the tough life at the fringes of society. For this reason he is credited with helping to break the barrier between popular culture and high art.

His films, despite shirking away from the mainstream and embracing the experimental, enjoyed a mass appeal in Argentina. Another of his most acclaimed films, ‘El romance del Aniceta y la Francisca’, is considered by many to be one of Argentina’s best.

An element in his life that cannot be ignored is his vehement support of Peronism. In 1999 he released an exhaustive 340-minute documentary about his political idol: ex-president and controversial figure Juan Domingo Perón.

In 2010, he was appointed Argentina’s Cultural Ambassador by fellow Peronist and current president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

For more information find Leonardo Favio on IMDB

Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas

Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas (born 1936)

Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas was born in Buenos Aires province and has made his name as one of the most important Argentine directors and documentary-makers.

Unlike Favio, Solanas has gained a global recognition, winning the Golden Bear at Germany’s Berlinale, the Special Jury prize at the Venice film festival and the Best Director award at Cannes.

Solanas’ work comes inextricably linked with politics. Any discussion on the director must surely go hand-in-hand with the mention of ‘Grupo Cine Liberación’ – a cinematic movement with which he was strongly affiliated. In the 1960s and 70s, the movement offered a reaction to Latin American politics and global cinema, focusing on making films that were socially and politically committed rather than purely entertainment driven. With their militant cinema they tried to demonstrate that Argentina was a society in crisis.

Their trademark was to make films anonymously, a move that encouraged collective creative processes and also protected them from political repression at a time when dictatorships were starting to emerge across the continent. Their most acclaimed film from the period was a four-hour documentary titled ‘La hora de los hornos: Notas y testimonios sobre el neocolonialismo, la violencia y la liberación’. The film became a symbol of activist cinema during the zenith of leftist politics.

For more information find Fernando ‘Pino’ Solanas on IMDB or visit his website

Armando Bó

Armando Bó (1914-81)

The inclusion of director Armando Bó in this list might raise a few eyebrows, but his influence and cult following should not be underestimated.

US filmmaker John Waters once said that when he was searching for inspiration he would look to the Argentine director’s films and wish he spoke Spanish. And well, that’s about as apt an introduction as the director could hope for. He described ‘Fuego’ (Bó’s best-known film) as “a huge influence”, admitting “I forgot how much I stole”.

In a time when sexploitation films were taken more seriously and the line between art-house and soft-core was slightly blurrier, Armando Bó was king. This auteur of sorts made 30 films between 1954 and 1980 – none of which were too subtle or nuanced. He hacked his way through plots, played for slapstick laughs and flashed a lot of flesh but the audience loved it and kept coming back for more.

He made 27 films starring the now retired model and actress Isabel Sarli. Sarli was Miss Argentina 1955, the Brigitte Bardot of Latin America and the filmmaker’s real-life lover.

“You inspired us all to a life of cheap exhibitionism, exaggerated sexual desires and a love for all that is trash-ridden in cinema,” Waters once said of Sarli, but it’s a comment that works just fine for Bó too.

For more information find Armando Bó on IMDB 

Juan José Campanella

Juan José Campanella (born 1959)

Probably the most recognisable name on this list for a contemporary audience, Juan José Campanella is a member of the exclusive two-man club of Oscar-winning Argentine directors. He has spent much of his working life in the United States and has directed several English language films as well as a number of North American television series.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, he began studying engineering at university but famously dropped out with only a year to go to pursue a career in filmmaking.

He is credited with helping to restore pride in the Argentine film industry which has historically suffered from “chronic self-depreciation”. “In Argentina, a Hollywood movie is innocent until proven guilty. An Argentine movie is the other way around. I have to work really hard to break down that barrier,” he told one US publication in an interview.

Having been previously nominated for an Oscar in 2001 for his film ‘El hijo de la novia’ (‘The son of the bride’), Campanella’s talents as a director were finally recognised in 2010 when his film ‘El secreto de sus ojos’ (‘The secret in their eyes’) was awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

A classy, unpredictable film noir set in 1975 Buenos Aires – it brought the spotlight back on Argentine cinema and helped make him the most bankable homegrown director in Argentine history.

He is currently working on an animated feature called ‘Metegol’ (‘Foosball’) and, the way things are going, it probably won’t be the last time we see him fumbling at his collar nervously at another red carpet event.

For more information find Juan J. Campanella on IMDB

While Hollywood is known for action and special effects, France scores with intellectual depths, the British go for realism and Italian movies show us what la dolce vita looks like – what comes to our mind when we think of argentine cinema?

Nothing? Really? No problem, you are about to find out.

The world of Argentine cinema has many faces. La Argentina is a traditional country, and to a great extent, so are its movies. Very true to its culture, Argentine movies will give you an insight into their people’s way of thinking and behaving. In accordance to its turbulent past, many films treat hard subjects, such as politics and social injustice. On the other hand, modern Argentine cinema goes beyond traditionalism and keeps up with international standards.

Argentina’s film scene is growing rapidly. The highest number of films in the history of the country were produced in 2009. Due to the talent of its directors and actors, Argentina has managed to become one of the most important producers of films in the Spanish speaking world.

Our Top 5 will give you the “Introduction to Argentine Cinema 1.01”: What Argentines love and what moves them, which films received international attention, what does el cine argentino offer cinematography wise – these movies will lay the foundation to understand all the aspects of the country’s cinema.

1. Nueve Reinas, 2000, Dir: Fabián Bielinsky

If you ever find yourself discussing cinema with a group of Argentines, mention the “nine queens” and you’ll be sure to impress. Showing you everything you need to know about the world of dodgy porteños, this movie is Argentina’s favourite.

‘Nueve Reinas’ is a movie written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky in 2000. It features Argentina’s best loved actor, Ricardo Darín.

Juan and Marcos are typical porteño con-men, whose paths cross while Juan is scamming a cashier. Impressed with his skills, Marcos lets Juan come along to his cons. Juan’s dad is in jail, so he hopes to raise money with the help of Marcos, to bribe his dad’s judge and get him out of jail. Then an unexpected opportunity presents itself: a former con friend of Marcos convinces them to sell his fake copies of the high value ‘Nine Queens’ stamps to a rich collector. He promises them a profit margin of US$200,000. The two accept, but right before closing the deal things start to go wrong. A thieve steals the fake stamps right out of their hands. They try to buy the real stamps off a widow for a price low enough to still make profit. Though Juan mistrusts Marcos, he puts in US$50,000 on top of Marcus’s contribution of US$200,000 to buy the stamps and resell them at US$450,000. After receiving the cheque, the two go to the bank to cash it. Unfortunately for them the bank just crashed, making the cheque worthless. It seems that the two cons are ruined, but the final scene reveals that things did not happen exactly the way they seemed – you can never trust a porteño con!

This movie is funny, light and smart, perfect for a relaxed evening when all you want is some light entertainment. Pleasant side effect: No Argentine will ever have the chance to screw you over, because you will be ahead of the game!

2. El Secreto de sus Ojos, 2009, Dir: Juan José Campanella

This breathtaking movie is the second Argentine export to win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2010. It is directed by Juan José Campanella. ‘The secret in their eyes’ is a 2009 production starring once again Argentina’s favourite, Ricardo Darín.

It tells the story of the legal counsellor Benjamin Espósito (Ricardo Darín), who after 25 years comes back to Buenos Aires to write a novel about one of his old murder cases, hoping to find closure. The case haunted him ever since, just as his secret love for his former superior Irene had.

In 1974 a young women was violated and later killed. Espósito reluctantly takes on the case. When talking to the dead woman’s husband, he is deeply touched and develops a strong bond with him. Together with Irene they hunt down the killer and bring him to jail.

The movie is influenced by Argentina’s 1976-83 dictatorship. This period is widely recognised as one of the bloodiest historical episodes of the 20th century, with human right activists estimating that 30,000 people disappeared during that time. ‘El secreto de sus ojos’ includes the issue in the plot. The killer collaborates with the regime and is therefore released after just one year of imprisonment. Benjamin, Irene and the victim’s husband Ricardo have to live with the knowledge that the killer will go unpunished. With this, director Campanella demonstrates the open wounds from which many Argentines suffer until today with respect to the happenings and unresolved cases during the dictatorship.

When Benjamin returns, not only does he discover new information concerning the case, but he reunites with Irene and gets a second chance to tell her how he always felt about her.

‘El secreto de sus ojos’, as the title already suggests, puts focus on the eyes of the protagonists, and the secrets they betray. The victim’s eyes and the secretive expression in those of her husband plague Benjamin’s mind. The tension between Irene and Benjamin is not vocalised in the movie; it is only to be found in the way they look at each other.

This movie is an argentine masterpiece in terms of photography, direction, acting and suspense. Though it is not rich in action, you will be highly touched and surprised – their eyes will follow you all night!

3. El Hombre De Al Lado, 2009, Dir: Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat

This movie breaks with the mould of Argentine movies. No screaming and cursing argentines, no political context and no family get-together – this film is a smart black comedy that shows what Argentina has to offer in terms of photography and intelligent portrayals of social relationships, especially among different classes.

‘The man next door’ is directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. The 2009 production won the award for cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010.

The main character Leonardo is a popular industrial designer who lives with his wife and daughter in a house famous for having been built by Le Corbusier. He appears to be a distant and narcissistic person. Next door lives Victor, an unpleasant and vulgar salesman. When Victor starts to put in a window in his apartment that is located directly in front of Leonardo’s kitchen window, a conflict is inevitable. The situation is intensified by daily incidents between the two neighbours. While Victor mostly ignores the complaints of his neighbour, Leonardo becomes obsessed with the conflict and it destroys his everyday life.

Actor Rafael Spregelburg does a remarkable job interpreting the main character Leonardo and his ambivalent personality. During the film, sympathies switch between the characters and you will never be quite sure whose side you are on.

The ending bears a surprise that divides the audience between loving and hating the film. However, one thing is certain: the intelligence and cinematography of the film will impress you. The movie also successfully breaks with the mould of culturally specific Argentine productions. Those from Europe or the US will be able to identify with the characters just as easily as any Argentine would.

This movie is perfect to watch if you want to see modern Argentine cinema that gives a universal perspective on human behaviour and excels in photography and story development. Though you might not get an adrenaline kick out of this movie, it will definitely make you think!

4. La Historia Oficial, 1985, Dir: Luis Puenzo

‘The Official Story’ is an Academy Award winning drama from 1985. Directed by Luis Puenzo, this movie treats the delicate time after the dictatorship in Argentina. It was honoured with not only an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986, but also with a Golden Globe in the same category. Actress Norma Aleandro won the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1985.

The story is based on real events that occurred during the dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 to 1983. The new born babies of the desaparecidos (people who went missing after being persecuted by the regime) were often given up for adoption to people who were either involved in the regime or did not ask questions about the family background of the child. Until this day, the families of the desaparecidos, along with the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, are fighting to get the children of their dead relatives back.

Alicia, a teacher in middle school, and Roberto, a well situated business man, fulfil their long-cherished dream of parenthood by adopting little Gaby. After a few years of happiness, Alicia cannot ignore the feeling that the adoption of Gaby might have had something to do with the dictatorship. She starts to investigate to find out the truth about her daughter’s birth.

Alicia, naive and unaware of the environment she lives in, did not know about the bloody events that occurred during the dictatorship. Only when a friend of hers returns to Argentina after years in exile and tells her about her destiny, does Alicia start to realize what really happened in her country. For the first time she listens to her students, who tell her that the books authorised for teaching are written by murderers, hired by the regime. She begins to notice people demonstrating in the street, fighting to get their children back, which were taken by the regime.

When she realises that she never had the chance to meet Gaby’s birth mother, she gets curious and is determined to find out the truth about her daughter’s parents. What she is about to find out will change her life forever.

This movie finds a way of helping the viewer to understand what it was truly like to live in Argentina after the dictatorship. How people found out only bit by bit what really happened in their country, how the country mourned for the victims that were never found and the crimes that were never acknowledged. While history books may have given you the facts, this movie will make you experience what it means to feel the desperation of losing your loved ones.

This film will overwhelm you with its abundance of emotion and its touching performances. Be prepared to be touched – and dive into the years after Argentina’s most violent decade.

5. Esperando La Carroza, 1985, Dir: Alejandro Doria

If you ever want to experience an ordinary Argentine Sunday, this movie will bring the adventure right into your living room. Family members shouting at each other de la puta madre, deception and madness at its best – this movie shows you what goes on behind Argentine doors when the family comes together.

Alejandro Doria directed the cult comedy from 1985. It is an adaption of a theatre play written by the Uruguayan Jacob Langsner, first performed in 1962. The movie features some of the best known Argentine theatre actors of the time, such as Antonio Gasalla, China Zorilaa, Luis Brandoni and Betiana Blum.

Family time – three siblings get together with their wives to enjoy a lunch together – which after a mere two minutes turns into a heated discussion about who will take care of their mother, Mama Cora. By the time you get the feeling they are about to kill each other, the group receives surprising news: Mama Cora has killed herself.

Feeling guilty about their attempts to shake off the responsibility of looking after their own mother, and the verbal attacks that accompanied them, an emotional outburst ensues, resulting in an even more aggressive and yet hilarious fight. Too bad they do not know the confused Mama Cora is right next door.

Make sure to have some aspirin at hand when you watch the movie, the screaming matches might give you a headache. However, you cannot help but love the characters, so do not miss out on an opportunity to take a seat and lunch with the Argentines.