Adolfo Aristarain

Adolfo Aristarain (born October 19, 1943) is an Argentine film director and screenwriter. Variety has deemed him "a master filmmaker."

Biography

Aristarain was born in Buenos Aires. After leaving Argentina, he started working as assistant director in the Arcente cinema, and then in Europe during his short exile for Mario Camus, Giorgio Stegani and Lewis Gilbert before returning to Argentina in 1974, following the death of Argentine president Juan Perón. His first 3 films did not receive favorable reviews, but in 1981 Tiempo de revancha received both critical acclaim and public success. Released in the midst of the so-called Guerra Sucia ("Dirty War") when Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship, the film had strong political undercurrents but faced few problems from censors. As Aristarain would later explain, he initially included long, unnecessary sex scenes in the film, "so the censors took five days and questioned things—not politics or ideology but sex. All I had to do was cut a few frames at the end of some scenes, like one of a strip tease. It doesn't hurt the scenes—especially if you made them longer than they should have been."

Back in Spain he directed a mini-series for television, and after a series of aborted projects he had renewed success in Argentina: Un Lugar en el Mundo, starring Federico Luppi, with whom he has maintained frequent collaboration. He then filmed La Ley de la frontera and Martín (hache) in Spain, also starring Luppi. Aristarain continued with his Argentine-Spanish mixture of actors in Lugares comunes and Roma.

Aristarain wrote all the scripts of his directed movies with the exception of the Columbia Pictures release The Stranger, which was written by American screenwriter Dan Gurskis.

He has received numerous awards for his work, including Golden Seashell and an Academy Award nomination for Un Lugar en el mundo, Best Director award at the Havana Film Festival, and Golden Seashell nomination for Martín (Hache), the First Prize at the Havana Film Festival and the Grand Prix des Amériques award at the Montréal World Film Festival for Tiempo de revancha.

The Academy Award Nomination was disqualified by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because the film was submitted for consideration (for Best Foreign Movie) by Uruguay (his wife's country) while The Academy claimed it was an Argentine production, and should therefore have been submitted by that country.

Aristarain has worked many times with several, notable actors, such as Federico Luppi (7 times), Julio de Grazia (4 times), Cecilia Roth (3 times), Ricardo Darín (3 times) and Ulises Dumont (2 times). He has held Spanish Citizenship since 2003.

Filmography

• La parte del león (1978)
• La playa del amor (1979)
• La discoteca del amor (1980)
• Tiempo de revancha (1981)
• Últimos días de la víctima (1982)
• The Stranger (1987)
• Un lugar en el mundo (1991)
• La Ley de la frontera (1995)
• Martín (hache) (1997)
• Lugares comunes (2002)
• Roma (2004)

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1982	Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Best Screenplay	Tiempo de revancha	Won
		Best Director		Won
	Chicago International Film Festival	Best Feature		Nominated
	Havana Film Festival	Grand Coral - First Prize		Won
	Montréal World Film Festival	Grand Prix Award		Won
	Huelva Latin American Film Festival	Golden Colon	Últimos días de la víctima	Won
	Mystfest	Best Film		Nominated
		Best Screenplay		Won
1983	Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Best Screenplay		Won
		Best Director		Won
1984	Cognac Festival du Film Policier	Critics Award	Tiempo de revancha	Won
1992	Nantes Three Continents Festival	Audience Award	A Place in the World	Won
	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Golden Seashell		Won
		OCIC Award		Won
1993	Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Best Screenplay		Nominated
		Best Director		Won
	Fribourg International Film Festival	Audience Award		Won
	Goya Awards	Best Spanish Film		Won
	Gramado Film Festival	Best Latin Film		Won
	Ondas Awards	Best Director		Won
	Turia Awards	Best Foreign Film		Won
1996	Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Best Screenplay	La ley de la frontera	Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
1997	Havana Film Festival	Audience Award	Martin (Hache)	Nominated
		Grand Coral - First Prize		Won
		Best Director		Won
	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Golden Seashell		Nominated
1998	Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Best Director		Won
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
	Butaca Awards	Best Art House Film		Nominated
	Fribourg International Film Festival	Award of the Pestalozzi Foundation		Won
	Goya Awards	Best Director		Nominated
	Oslo Films from the South Festival	Audience Award		Won
	Valdivia International Film Festival	Audience Award		Won
2002	Huelva Latin American Film Festival	Prize of the City of Huelva		Won
	Havana Film Festival	Vigia Award	Common Ground	Won
		OCIC Award		Won
		Glauber Rocha Award		Won
	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Golden Seashell		Nominated
		Best Screenplay		Won
2003	Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Best Director		Nominated
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
	Cinema Writers Circle Awards	Best Screenplay		Nominated
	Fribourg International Film Festival	Grand Prix Award		Nominated
		Audience Award		Won
	Goya Awards	Best Screenplay		Won
	Gramado Film Festival	Best Film		Nominated
2004	Cartagena Film Festival	Best Film		Nominated
	Havana Film Festival	Best Screenplay	Roma	Won
		Audience Award		Won
	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Golden Seashell		Nominated
2005	Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards	Best Director		Won
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
	Goya Awards	Best Director		Nominated
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
	Toulouse Cinespaña	Best Screenplay		Won
		Violette d"or		Won

External links

• Adolfo Aristarain at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography Pantalla (Spanish)
• Interview to Adolfo Aristarain Diagonal (Spanish)