56 years ago Argentina welcomed the First International Cinematographic Exhibition of Cinema in Mar del Plata. Today, 24 editions later, the Festival gets ready for its Silver Edition.

Since that first big step, the country and the world have witnessed the change and growth ofthe cinematographic universe. New trends, new narratives, new authors have gone through the Festival and have left their trace and built history.

The first Festival was held from 8 to 14 March, 1954. It was not a competitive Festival, but an exhibition that highlighted the Cinema as a show. Designed by the Information and Press Secretary, Raul Alejandro Apold, the Festival sought to give strong support to the national film industry and bring closer world cinema to the Argentine public.

Mar del Plata was chosen as the venue for this celebration of cinema for being the ideal touristic destination. There, eighteen countries were represented by the 52 festure and 49 short films that were screened.

The most relevant cinematography was present, through the films and the visit of their stars.They were shown Pane, amore e fantasia / Bread, Love and Dreams, by Vittorio de Sica (Italy, 1953), La ilusión viaja en tranvía /Illusion Travels by Streetcar, by Luis Buñuel (Mexico, 1954), The Glenn Miller Story, by Anthony Mann (USA, 1954); Sommarlek / Summer Interlude, by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1951) and Fröken Julie / Miss Julie, by Alf Sjöberg (Sweden, 1951). Argentine cinema was represented by El grito sagrado / The Sacred Call, by Luis César Amadori (1954) and Street of Sin, by Ernesto Arancibia (1954).

The most important figures of those days attended the Festival. From the Mecca of Hollywood came Errol Flynn, Mary Pickford, Joan Fontaine, Claire Trevor, Edward G. Robinson, Fred MacMurray, Ann Miller, Walter Pidgeon and Jeannette McDonald. From France, Viviane Romance and Jeanne Moreau; from Italy, Isa Miranda, Lucía Bosé and Alberto Sordi, from Great Britain, Trevor Howard, from Spain, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Aurora Bautista and Ana Mariscal. As special guests, the Festival welcomed Lil Dagover and Norman McLaren.

This first non-competitive exhibition opened a niche of interest in the intellectual and cinematographic groups that made possible the creation of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival.