The Mar del Plata International Film Festival () is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature festival in Latin America that is recognized by the FIAPF, and it is the oldest in this category in the Americas. The festival is organized by the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA).
History
Created in 1954 by Jesus Miller, it was not considered to be a competitive festival, it was just an exhibition of selected international movies; during this stage the event was named Festival Cinematográfico Internacional (International Cinematographic Festival).
In the early years famous international guests such as Mary Pickford, Gina Lollobrigida, Edward G. Robinson and Errol Flynn attended the event. The festival continued in this way until 1959, when the Argentine Film Critics Association took charge of running it; during this time the festival was approved and recognized by FIAPF.
In 1964 the festival moved temporarily to Buenos Aires, and the name was changed to Festival Cinematográfico Internacional de la República Argentina (International Cinematographic Festival of the Argentine Republic). In 1966 there was a military coup d'état in Argentina; in 1968 and 1970 the Instituto de Cine took charge of the festival.
From 1967 to 1969 the festival was cancelled because there were other festivals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During the 1960s several well-known guests appeared, including: Paul Newman, Alberto Sordi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Vittorio Gassman, Toshirō Mifune, François Truffaut, Karel Reisz, Catherine Deneuve, Juan Antonio Bardem, Anthony Perkins, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Maria Callas, Cantinflas, Andrzej Wajda, Jacques Tati, Lee Strasberg, George Hamilton.
After the 1970 edition, the festival was canceled when Argentina entered an unstable sociopolitical period that culminated in the highly repressive military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. There were some attempts to reactivate it, but none succeeded until 1996, when the festival returned with new renovations. Since then there have been several changes. In the first years the event was not held in March; from 2001 to 2007 it returned to that month, and since 2008 it has been held in November. During this stage the festival was granted a 'Category A', the highest class assigned by FIAPF, making it the most important film festival of Latin America. Nowadays, after a history marked by unstable political situations in Argentina, the festival is in constant growth and slowly regaining its historical reputation.
Awards The main prize of the International Competition had different names throughout the history of the festival, but in 2004 it was definitely changed to Ástor in honor of the Argentine musician Ástor Piazzolla. The twenty-second Mar del Plata Film Festival, held in March 2007, introduced a new competition specifically for Latin American film-makers. Now days, the festival helds four main competitions organised in various sections of the official selection: International Competition, Latin American Competition, Argentine Competition and, the more experimental one, Altered States Competition.
Currently, the awards given by the jury at the International Competition are: Golden Ástor for Best Film, Silver Ástor for Best Director, Silver Ástor for Best Actress, Silver Ástor for Best Actor, Silver Ástor for Best Script, and a Special Jury Award.
Golden Ástor Winners Year Film Original Title Director Country 1954 No awards given Awarded as "Great Jury Prize" 1959 Wild Strawberries Smultronstället Ingmar Bergman * 1960 The Bridge Die Brücke Bernhard Wicki * 1961 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Karel Reisz * 1962 His Days Are Numbered I giorni contati Elio Petri * 1963 Land of Angels Angyalok földje György Révész * 1964 The Organizer I compagni Mario Monicelli 1965 Time of Indifference Gli Indifferenti Francesco Maselli 1966 Long Live the Republic! Ať žije Republika! Karel Kachyňa * 1967 Festival Not Held Awarded as "Great Condor Prize" 1968 Bonnie and Clyde Arthur Penn * 1969 Festival Not Held 1970 Macunaíma Joaquim Pedro de Andrade * 1971–1995 Festival Cancelled Awarded as "Golden Ombú" 1996 The Dog in the Manger El Perro del Hortelano Pilar Miró * 1997 The Tango Lesson Sally Potter 1998 The Cloud and the Rising Sun Abr-O Aftaab Mahmoud Kalari * 1999 God's Wedding As Bodas de Deus João César Monteiro * 2000 Festival Not Held 2001 It's Me, the Thief To ja, złodziej Jacek Bromski * 2002 Bolivar Is Me Bolívar Soy Yo Jorge Alí Triana * 2003 Breaking Up Separações Domingos de Oliveira Awarded as "Golden Ástor" 2004 Good Life Delivery Buena Vida Delivery Leonardo Di Cesare * 2005 Le Grand Voyage Ismaël Ferroukhi * / * 2006 News from Afar Noticias Lejanas Ricardo Benet * 2007 Fiction Ficció Cesc Gay 2008 Still Walking 歩いても 歩いても / Aruitemo aruitemo Hirokazu Koreeda * 2009 Nora's Will Cinco días sin Nora Mariana Chenillo 2010 Essential Killing Jerzy Skolimowski 2011 Back to Stay Abrir puertas y ventanas Milagros Mumenthaler 2012 Beyond the Hills Dupa dealuri Cristian Mungiu * 2013 The Golden Dream La jaula de oro Diego Quemada-Díez 2014 Come to My Voice Were Dengê Min Hüseyin Karabey * 2015 Embrace of the Serpent El abrazo de la serpiente Ciro Guerra 2016 People That Are Not Me Anashim shehem lo ani Hadas Ben Aroya * 2017 Wajib واجب Annemarie Jacir * 2018 Between Two Waters Entre dos aguas Isaki Lacuesta 2019 Fire Will Come O que arde Óliver Laxe 2020 The Year of the Discovery El año del descubrimiento Luis López Carrasco 2021 Hit the Road Jadde Khaki Panah Panahi 2022 Bittersweet Rain Saudade fez morada aqui dentro Haroldo Borges 2023 Motherland Kinra Marco Panatonic * 2024 On the Edge Au bord du monde Sophie Muselle and Guérin van de Vorst *2025 Calle Málaga Maryam Touzani
Denotes the country's first win
Complete list of winners