Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the two films directed by Esteban Sapir, Picado Fino (1996) and La Antena (2007), which occupy an ambiguous (and marginal) position in contemporary Argentine cinema: neither mainstream nor part of the movement known as New Argentine Cinema.

Paper long abstract:

An overwhelming majority of contemporary criticism on Argentine cinema is devoted to the movement known as New Argentine Cinema (NAC) and to filmmakers such as Pablo Trapero, Adrian Caetano, and Lucrecia Martel. One particular director, however, has been almost completely ignored by current scholarship on the topic: Esteban Sapir. This may be because Sapir's films are very difficult to classify: although they share important features with the key representatives of NAC such as Pizza, Birra, Faso (Caetano & Stagnaro 1998) and Mundo Grúa (Pablo Trapero 1999) - very low-budget, independent productions that break with mainstream film narrative - they also differ in significant ways. Sapir is not concerned with the aesthetics of realism, and his films draw on aspects of genre cinema, rely heavily on non-diegetic music, and avoid any naturalistic style. This presentation will discuss Sapir's two feature films, Picado Fino (1996) and La Antena (2007). In the first place I will show how, although dramatically breaking with realism, the films' formalised style, fast cutting and innovative shot composition still constitute a cinematic strategy for reflecting on the same issues of social fragmentation, anomie, and change that are so clearly represented in NAC. I will also claim that the films' black and white cinematography is used to convey a Manichean political discourse - a choice that establishes a direct link with the genres that inform the films (crime film, the thriller, fantasy), and which serves as an ideological commentary on recent Argentine society.