Film Directors: Masters Of World Cinema Codexery

Lucrecia Martel

Argentine filmmaker acclaimed for her demanding, transnational art cinema.

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Her 2001 debut feature La Ciénaga introduced a new voice to Argentine cinema and was called "one of the highest achievements" of the New Argentine Cinema by scholar David Oubiña.[1][2] Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, born on December 14, 1966, works as a director, screenwriter, and producer; her feature films have been shown at festivals including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Toronto.[3]

Life and work

She intended to study physics but instead enrolled in art history, chemical engineering, and zoology courses, and also farmed pigs for a year.[4] Martel gained admission to Argentina's state-sponsored film school ENERC after a competitive exam, but the school closed due to lack of funds.[5] As a student she directed short films including No te la llevarás, maldito (1989) and La otra (1990).[6][7] Her breakthrough short Rey muerto (1995) won Best Short Film at the Havana Film Festival and was exhibited as part of the omnibus film Historias breves.[8][9]

Her three subsequent feature films—The Holy Girl (2004), The Headless Woman (2008), and Zama (2017)—received further international acclaim.[10] Martel was diagnosed with uterine cancer in February 2016 while editing Zama, and has been in remission since late 2016.[11] She is lesbian and came out to her family before the 2001 premiere of La Ciénaga.[12] According to Martel, she was around 15 or 16 when she began using a video camera her father purchased for recording family memories, and she started filming everyday conversations and domestic scenes.[13]

Martel taught herself by repeatedly viewing Pink Floyd: The Wall 23 times to study its editing, as she and others would watch a film many times to learn how it was cut.[14] In 1999, Martel's script for La Ciénaga received the Sundance Institute/NHK Award; she conducted 2,400 auditions overall, with 1,600 of those recorded on video in a garage near her Salta home, to cast the film's child actors.[15]

What the cited sources add

The Festival de Cannes profile notes that Martel studied at Avellaneda Experimental (AVEX) and attended ENERC in Buenos Aires.[16] Dawson also writes that The Holy Girl premiered at Cannes and consolidated Martel's reputation as a fine emerging talent.[17] In a 2018 Gatopardo interview, Martel's mother described her as an honor roll student who was "radical and challenging" and performed well in science.[18] According to the same June 2018 source, Martel's residence is in Villa Crespo, a neighborhood of Buenos Aires.[18]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Christofoletti Barrenha, "ReFocus: the films of Lucrecia Martel", Edinburgh University Press, 2022; Poblete, "El cine argentino está muy vital", 11 July 2006; Ebert, "La Cienaga Movie Review & Film Summary (2001)", RogerEbert.com, 19 October 2001; McGavin, "Family tensions fill risky 'La Cienaga'", Chicago Tribune, 19 October 2001; "La Cienaga (2001)", Rotten Tomatoes (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Oubiña, "La Ciénaga: What's Outside the Frame", The Criterion Collection, 26 January 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; "Hispanic and Lusophone Women Filmmakers: Theory, Practice and Difference", Manchester University Press, 2013-01-22, p. 12–24; Guest, "Lucrecia Martel by Haden Guest", 1 January 2009; Oubiña, "La Ciénaga: What's Outside the Frame", The Criterion Collection, 26 January 2015; Powers, "Lucrecia Martel, One of the Greatest Directors in the World Right Now, Gets a Well Earned Retrospective at Lincoln Center", 9 April 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "New Argentine Cinema: Themes, Auteurs and Trends of Innovation", Ediciones Tatanka, 2002, p. 69–78; "Nueva mirada femenina para ver el cine argentino", La Nación, 27 July 1997 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dawson, "Lucrecia Martel, The Headless Woman", Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), 19 August 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "You Won't Get Her, Bastard (1989)", Letterboxd; "No te la llevarás, maldito (C) (1989)", FilmAffinity; Martin, "The cinema of Lucrecia Martel", Manchester University Press, 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Yemayel, "El ojo extraterrestre", 3 June 2018; "La otra (1990)", Letterboxd (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Historias Breves 2017", Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA); Yemayel, "El ojo extraterrestre", 3 June 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hispanic and Lusophone Women Filmmakers: Theory, Practice and Difference", Manchester University Press, 2013-01-22, p. 12–24 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scott, "Blessed Restraint", The New York Times, 10 April 2005; Murat, "La Femme sans tête", Publications de la Vie Catholique, 2 May 2009; Brooks, "Zama review – Lucrecia Martel emerges from the wilderness with a strange, sensual wonder", The Guardian, 31 August 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kohn, "How Pedro Almódovar Pushed Argentina's Greatest Filmmaker to Make Her Best Movie Ever", IndieWire, 21 November 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Anarte, "El cine LGBTI argentino cautiva en Berlín y el resto de Europa", DW, 24 February 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "New Argentine Cinema: Themes, Auteurs and Trends of Innovation", Ediciones Tatanka, 2002, p. 69–78 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Guest, "Lucrecia Martel by Haden Guest", 1 January 2009; Yemayel, "El ojo extraterrestre", 3 June 2018; Dawson, "Lucrecia Martel, The Headless Woman", Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), 19 August 2009; Telegraph. Film review of La Ciénaga, October 2001.; "Celluloid Ceiling: Women Directors Breaking Through", Supernova, 2014, p. 77–91 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  15. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Berkshire, "NHK, Sundance honor int'l filmmakers", 17 January 2003; "What is "Sundance Institute/NHK Award"?", NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation); Martin, "The cinema of Lucrecia Martel", Manchester University Press, 2016, p. 32; "New Argentine Cinema: Themes, Auteurs and Trends of Innovation", Ediciones Tatanka, 2002, p. 69–78 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  16. "Lucrecia MARTEL", Festival de Cannes. facts only, no text reused. festival-cannes.com
  17. Dawson, "Lucrecia Martel, The Headless Woman", Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), 19 August 2009. facts only, no text reused. filmmakermagazine.com
  18. Wikipedia, "Lucrecia Martel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Yemayel, "El ojo extraterrestre", 3 June 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Lucrecia Martel (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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