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By William Blick
Many great artistic movements have sprouted from the seeds of economic depression, and Argentina has had its share of economic hardships. Therefore, it can be surmised that from these difficulties, a new film movement sprouted from Argentina. At the core of the movement currently, is a production company known as “El Pampero Cine.” History has demonstrated that adversity has been the ally to innovation and this idea is central to El Pampero Cine.
Tamara Falicov, writing for MUBI notebook, traces New Argentine cinema to an upsurge all the way back to the 1990s which was related in part with a small grants program that was initiated by the National Film Institute (INCAA).[i] Film institute graduates, like those of new American indie cinema of the early 1970s such as Scorsese, Spielberg, and De Palma, made short films or (cortometrajes), and then went on to raise funds through co-production funding. “They have relied on their own networks of like-minded young people rather than depend on the traditional film sector structure (the film union, established director’s associations, and the few film studios still in existence).”[ii] It is not uncommon for like-minded artists to bind together to support a new aesthetic. This has occurred not only in film, but in literature, poetry, and visual arts.
Hamed Sarrafi writing for Senses of Cinema discussing Laura Citarella, a founding member of El Pampero Cine, and her latest film: “following in the footsteps of most El Pampero Cine movies, Trenque Lauquen reveals itself as an epic that eschews flashy aesthetics in favor of subtle, introspective storytelling, captivating viewers completely. Rather than appealing superficially to the senses, it chooses to delve deep into the human psyche and soul.” [iii]Flashy aesthetics indeed are not part of El Pampero Cine, but there appears to be an element that can be construed as gimmickry. I might feel this way if I were cynical. However, by viewing these films there is a sense of invigoration and excitement about cinema that hasn’t been felt, at least for this writer, in years. Not since the 1970s, arguably the best years for cinema ever, has there been this renewal of enigmatic storytelling.
New Argentine cinema according to Falicov is different from the previous auteurs of Argentine cinema as former directors had created gritty, realist dramas reminiscent of the political cinema of the New Latin American Cinema movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The New Cinema’s films created are not overly concerned with politics. Falicov says, “they are working to expand the notion of Argentine citizenship to include subjects and characters who have traditionally been invisible or excluded from Argentine screens.”[iv]
However, despite El Pampero Cine being an eminent, driving force in cinema, few Argentine citizens (or many, many people) actually watch these films, as Falicov notes. Filmmakers obviously want their films to be seen even if they do reject traditional aesthetics. According, to Falicov: Box office figures for these critically acclaimed films range on average from $100,000-$250,000, and producers claim that a medium budget film (to a tune of $1.5 million) film must make $500,000 to turn a profit, since ticket prices are so low.”[v] Like independent filmmakers all over the world, it takes effort and marketing promotion to get these films seen. However, as a result of low funding, the emphasis is on the art and not the marketing itself. Necessity is obviously the mother of invention in this case, as these filmmakers toil for their art on a shoestring.
El Pampero Cine literally translates to mean “cinema” of the Argentine region known as “Pampas.” It really is a group of indie filmmakers who created an artistic bond, and a purist, experimental form of cinema using minimal budgets, limited casting, an esprit de corps work ethic, and who star in and criticize each other’s films. Also, there are elements of magical realism similar to the writings of Borges or Bolano, and a combination of other aesthetics including genre-bending and experiments with diegetic sound and music. The central directors include within their ranks: Mariano Llinás, Laura Citarella, Agustín Mendilaharzu, and Alejo Moguilansky. The actual production company El Pampero was founded in 2002. The cinema movement still has not reached its peak and is not as well-known as it should be. However, this new wave has the potential to inspire countless generations to come just as the briefer French nouvelle vague and Italian neo-realism has done. El Pampero Cine is unprecedented in their bold, provocative films that break the fourth wall, and with that everything else that can be construed as traditional narrative filmmaking.
A prominent Pampero, Mariano Llinás, created La Flor, a staggering 13 hour film with a series of sinuous plots played by the same four women. I do not know if this is innovation or sheer indulgence, but it is a cinematic achievement any way you choose to look at it and it is like nothing I have ever seen before. An El Pampero Cine film is not like streaming an episodic series on Netflix, although La Flor is available for streaming in episodes and probably the only way you will be able to watch it is like I did, in small increments. I offer that it is an immersive and grueling experience. Sometimes that experience can prove to be painfully slow. Antonioni always made immersive, subtle, and challenging films that were quite introspective, and Tarkovsky’s sci-fi epics such as Stalker are difficult, but none of them are likely to challenge the viewers’ attention span like El Pampero Film. Take La Flor, wherein some of the plot lines are resolved and others are not, and there is not always a sense of closure. New Argentine filmmaking is unapologetically demanding. Beginning scenes lasting a large screen time evolve with no dialogue or in the case La Flor, the filmmaker lays out the blueprint of the film before the narratives start. The plots are bizarre, experimental, and provocative. A film like La Flor, covers so many genres including thrillers, spy flicks, and musicals. Many feel that this is what film should be, which is essentially a celebration of film itself.
The sheer ambition of La Flor including the genre mixing, the metanarratives, and the eschewing the traditional narrative as well as the bloated run time reminded me of David Lynch’s Inland Empire (2006). However, El Pampero Cine opts to avoid out -and -out surrealism in the favor of less self-conscious narrative tasks.
Laura Citarella tells Samuel Brodsky in Filmmaker Magazine:
“On the one hand, it starts with the core belief that there is no ‘standard’ way of making a film. Films are not static and repeatable structures, and our job is to believe a lot in the possibility that each film reinvents not only its fictional universe and its internal logics, but also its own way of being produced, of being thought of, and ultimately getting made.”[vi]
If cinema is truth 24-frames-per second according to Godard, then Citarella and her cohorts have invented a new way to illuminate truth through stylized and innovative approaches to narrative such as Trenque Lauquen Part I, which is, at its core, a thriller, but by no means conventional. Again, run times of Pampero films appear ostentatious, but if the narratives earn it, then so be it! Pampero films may infuriate and fascinate simultaneously. However, it is a worthwhile journey for any film aficionado.
Citarella also said in Filmmaker Magazine that, “Nobody makes a film at Pampero without the rest seeing it and without the rest being able to give their opinion, so it is set up as a form of work, of constant exchange.”[vii] This is such an intriguing aesthetic concept. It is obviously not new. However, essentially what the filmmakers are doing is workshopping their films and continuously learning as if they were still in film school. They are actively producing films that are continuously being created and reworked.
El Pampero Cine’s Dossier proclaims:
More than just a simple production company, it is a group of people keen to bring experimentation and innovation to the procedures and practices involved in making cinema in Argentina. As part of the formidable rebirth known as Nuevo Cine Argentino, bringing with it films like Mundo Grúa by Pablo Trapero, La libertad and Los muertos by Lisandro Alonso, and Los guantes mágicos by Martín Rejtman, the output of El Pampero Cine has seen some of the most original and celebrated films of the last ten years. Films which have taken innovation to practically all areas of film activity.
If you have not heard of El Pampero Cine films, you are probably not alone. Although they have won hearts and minds all over the world and won numerous awards at Film Festivals they still are a fringe film surge, and the material and subjects are still marginalized. Many of these films can be found on streaming services and I am grateful for this. I had first encountered El Pampero Cine after reading the interview quoted in this article with Laura Citarella in Senses of Cinema.
New Argentine Cinema lends itself to comparison with numerous other movements for example Dogme ‘95, New American Cinema, and of course New Latin American cinema. El Pampero Cine is revolutionizing cinema as we know it and this revolution is not being shown enough. Slowly, but surely New Argentine films will take their place where they belong as some of the freshest and most innovative in the world.
Films
• Un Andantino (Alejo Moguillansky, 2023)
• Clorindo Testa (Mariano Llinás, 2022)
• Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella, 2022)
• Clementina (Constanza Feldman / Agustín Mendilaharzu, 2022)
• La Edad Media / The Middle Ages (Luciana Acuña / Alejo Moguillansky, 2022)
• Corsini interpreta a Blomberg y Maciel (Mariano Llinás, 2021)
• Concierto para la Batalla de El Tala / Concert for the Battle of El Tala (Mariano Llinás, 2021)
• La Noche Submarina / The Submarine Night (Diego H. Flores, Alejo Moguillansky, Fermín Villanueva, 2020)
• Un día de caza / A Hunting Day (Alejo Moguillansky, 2020)
• Lejano interior / Far Interior (Mariano Llinás, 2020)
• Las Poetas visitan a Juana Bignozzi (Laura Citarella / Mercedes Halfon, 2019)
• Por el Dinero / For the money (Alejo Moguillansky, 2019)
• La Flor / The Flower (Mariano Llinás, 2018)
• La vendedora de fósforos / The Little Match Girl (Alejo Moguillansky, 2017)
• La Mujer de los Perros / Dog Lady (Laura Citarella / Verónica Llinás, 2015)
• El Escarabajo de oro / The Golden Bug (Alejo Moguillansky / Fia-Stina Sandlund, 2014)
[i] “The Many Facets of New Argentine Cinema.” MUBI, 6 Sept. 2017,
[iii] Sarrafi, Hamed. A Cinematic Sojourn to the Land of Awe and Astonishment: Interview with Laura Citarella about El Pampero Cine and Trenque Lauquen – Senses of Cinema. 7 Oct. 2011.
[iv] “The Many Facets of New Argentine Cinema.” MUBI, 6 Sept. 2017
[v] ibid
[vi] Brodsky, Samuel. “The Pampero Cinematic Universe: 20 Films in 20 Years – Filmmaker Magazine.” Filmmaker Magazine | Publication with a Focus on Independent Film, Offering Articles, Links, and Resources., 28 Apr. 2023
[vii] Sarrafi, Hamed. A Cinematic Sojourn to the Land of Awe and Astonishment: Interview with Laura Citarella about El Pampero Cine and Trenque Lauquen – Senses of Cinema. August 2023.
[1] “The Many Facets of New Argentine Cinema.” MUBI, 6 Sept. 2017,
[1] Ibid
[1] Sarrafi, Hamed. A Cinematic Sojourn to the Land of Awe and Astonishment: Interview with Laura Citarella about El Pampero Cine and Trenque Lauquen – Senses of Cinema. 7 Oct. 2011.
[1] “The Many Facets of New Argentine Cinema.” MUBI, 6 Sept. 2017
[1] ibid
[1] Brodsky, Samuel. “The Pampero Cinematic Universe: 20 Films in 20 Years – Filmmaker Magazine.” Filmmaker Magazine | Publication with a Focus on Independent Film, Offering Articles, Links, and Resources., 28 Apr. 2023
[1] Sarrafi, Hamed. A Cinematic Sojourn to the Land of Awe and Astonishment: Interview with Laura Citarella about El Pampero Cine and Trenque Lauquen – Senses of Cinema. August 2023.
