Mar del Plata International Film Festival turns 25.

25th Mar del Plata Internacional Film Festival
From 13th to 21st November, 2010

The only Latin American Film Festival with “A” status was conceived in 1954 due to the need to reflect the Argentinean Cinema universe, as well as the international cinematographic scenario. Year after year, the Festival established itself as a vital exhibition of the development and exchange of the film industry and audiovisual arts. Mar del Plata International Film Festival is today a must for filmmakers, actors, producers, distributors and film lovers.


stoy of a coming to age festival:
The only “A” status Latin American festival was conceived in 1954 in Mar del Plata, under the presidency of Gral. Juan Domingo Perón, as the First non-competitive Cinematographic Exhibition.

The most important and new international productions of the time were then exhibited, among them: Pane, amore e fantasia, by Vittorio de Sica (Italy, 1953); La ilusión viaja en tranvía, by Luís Buñuel (Mexico, 1954); The Glenn Miller Story, by Anthony Mann (USA, 1954); Sommarlek, by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1951) and Fröken Julie, by Alf Sjöberg (Sweden, 1951).
The Festival had the honor to count with the presence of the most relevant celebrities of the world cinema: Errol Flynn, Mary Pickford, Joan Fontaine, Claire Trevor, Edward G. Robinson, Fred MacMurray, Ann Miller, Walter Pidgeon, Jeannette McDonald, Viviane Romance, Jeanne Moreau, Isa Miranda, Lucía Bosé, Alberto Sordi, Trevor Howard, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Aurora Bautista, Ana Mariscal, Lil Dagover and Norman McLaren, among others.
This event opened niches of interest in the intellectual and cinematographic world that made possible the creation of the First Film Festival of that magnitude in Argentina. In 1959, the Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos managed to obtain the “A” status qualification for the Festival
from the FIAFP.
THE CONSOLIDATION
From 1959 to 1970 ten editions were held. The one in 1964, in Buenos Aires City and in 1967 and 1969, it alternated with Rio de Janeiro Festival.
These Festivals were the most important cinematographic and cultural events of the time. The European filmography were represented, among others, by the French Nouvelle Vague, the young Polish Cinema, the most prominent Czech cinema, the best Italian realism and Ingmar Bergman’s irruption and the Swedish cinematography, apart from the excellence of the English cinema. From The USA came films that, for their high thematic, technical and performing level, were awarded in many opportunities.
The Festival consolidated as a forum to discuss about the new cinematographic tendencies and received theorists, journalists and filmmakers from all the latitudes.
Among the uncountable international celebrities who attended the Festival, we can mention Paul Newman, Vittorio Gassman, Jean Paul Belmondo, Anthony Perkins, Ugo Tognazzi, Maria Callas, Maria Schell, Marie Laforet, Harriet Andersson, George Hamilton, Tom Courtenay, Mario Moreno (Cantinflas), François Truffaut, Tony Richardson, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Gilo Pontecorvo, Andrzej Wajda, Edouard Molinaro, Pierre Kast, Karel Reisz, Jacques Tati, Curt Jürgens, Cesare Zavattini, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Bauer, Abel Gance, Vincent Minelli, Lee Strassberg, Andrzej Munk, James Mason, Maximilian Schell, Catherine Spaak, Tomas Milian, Ettore Scola, John Gavin, and Jerzy Passendorfer.
THE RETURN
In 1996, the second stage of the Festival started. After being absent for 26 years, Mar del Plata International Film Festival repositioned itself as the unavoidable artistic and cultural event for filmmakers, actors, producers, investors, scriptwriters, journalists and film-lovers.
The Festival became the reflection of the world cinematographic tendencies and the annual meeting for the audience, the films and their film makers.
From 1996 many celebrities took part of the Festival, among them: Jacqueline Bisset, Elsa Martinelli, Raquel Welch, Renee Zellweger, Francisco Rabal, Amparo Soler Leal, Lina Wertmüller, Percy Adlon, Arturo Ripstein, Pilar Miro, Dino Risi, Alfonso Arau, Antonio Ferrandiz, Abbas Kiarostami, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Catherine Deneuve, Geraldine Chaplin, Sonia Braga, Emily Watson, Julie Delpy, Nikita Mijalkov, Sally Potter, Alex de la Iglesia, Liv Ullman, Jeremy Irons, Alan Rickman, Philip Noyce, Istvan Szabo, Gerard Depardieu, Volker Schlöndorff, María de Medeiros, Helen Mirren, Vittorio Taviani, Mario Monicelli, Hanna Schygula, Kathleen Turner, Héctor Babenco, Ken Russell, Bob Rafelson, Norman Jewison, Susan Seidelman, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Krzystof Zanussi, Michael Winterbotton, Abel Ferrara, Juliette Binoche, Sarah Polley, Kathryn Bigelow and Javier Fesser.
Having the beautiful city of Mar del Plata as a framework, combining a traditional architectural style from the beginning of the century, with modern buildings and big extensions of incredible beaches, the Festival gives the visitors an extended and deep look to the cinematographic universe, reflected in many competitions, sidebars, retrospectives and tributes.