Century of the Wind

The journey of Fernando Birri, the great father of New Latin American Cinema, has left a mark that begins at the legendary Santa Fe Documentary School and continues to this day. His methods, influences, his founding role, his poetic-political commitment, and his artistic output are some of the milestones that make up his journey.

Jorge Giannoni isn't a hero; he's a witness to the darkest part of the history of independent cinema in our country, and of an entire generation; a story that saw him present alongside Raymundo Gleyzer and Glauber Rocha in the turbulent Brazil of the 1960s, during the French May as a producer for RAI, in his work as a face-hunter for Fellini, and in film production from Cuba, making documentaries critical of the Trial; a history riddled with encounters, disagreements, exiles, frustrations, burned negatives, and a few triumphs.

This documentary deconstructs the life of my father, Carlos Ragone, based on his work as a photographer and photojournalist: father and daughter, photographs and audiovisuals, memory and imagination intertwine.

A young boy, about to take his first communion, must wrestle with his familial loyalty and his conscience when there is a fire at their local cinema where his brother works and it is clear that he is involved in the theft of the projector. Determined to right the wrong done by his sibling, he attempts to make amends.

Tells the story of a poor family, inhabitants of the southern province of Santa Fe, who is forced to move into an abandoned railroad until waters recede Salado river wagon.

Everyday the children of the neighborhood known as "Tire Dié", in the city of Santa Fe, wait for the train to ask for money, shouting "Tire dié!" (toss me a dime!) to the passengers. Considered the first survey-on-film in Latin America.

A mockumentary about three young student filmmakers as they make a movie about an alleged film director living obscurely in a Buenos Aires mental hospital. In their visits to the mental hospital, the three students will forge a very special relationship with the self-styled former film director as they follow different clues and strategies to discover his 'true' identity.

A group of rich young intellectuals hiding from the war in rural Italy play at being partisans when some disbanded soldiers and some refugees ask them for shelter in their villa. The young and aristocratic Andrea strikes up a friendship with a peasant girl, Lucia. Then the Germans suddenly appear, looking for the real partisans, and the time comes for serious decisions.

What does Che Guevara"s mythic presence represent to people at the turn of the century, and how do people define their concept of utopia?

Persephone is released from prison after three years. Returning to the neighborhood will present him with a new hell. Without a job, she gets the help of Juana who shelters her in her house and with whom she looks for some changa to survive.

Three boys from very different backgrounds who have just finished their military service must face the complex social reality of Argentina.

In 1956, the humorous designer Oski made a work about the foundation of the city of Buenos Aires. Fernando Birri made a film from this work in 1959, using the original text of the German explorer Ulrich Schmidel. This film, which disappeared in the years of the dictatorship, was miraculously restored on video in 2000. The story that the documentary describes can be compared with the situation of Latin American cinema throughout all these years.

The Cheerful Squadron is a 1954 Italian war-comedy film directed by Paolo Moffa and Interpreted by movie stars like Paolo Stoppa, Vittorio De Sica, Alberto Sordi and Silvana Pampanini. Based on the military environment novel The Allegro Squadron by Georges Courteline (1886), this film presents a series of sketches on military life in the late nineteenth century.

In 1997 the Argentine filmmaker Fernando Birri returned to his home country to film a documentary on the 30th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara and the relevance of utopias at that time. Carmen Guarini decided to record those moments. A rough edit of this film was hidden away on a fragile VHS tape for twenty years. Today, these images come to life and shed some light on the life of this Latin American poet and master filmmaker, who, at the age of 92, still refused to give up on his own utopias.