THE OUTSIDER LOOKING IN:
THE FILMS OF LEONARDO FAVIO

A Special Retrospective Program of the 39th New York Film Festival
At The Walter Reade Theater
Sept. 29 – Oct. 12, 2001

The Film Society of Lincoln Center is proud to present THE OUTSIDER LOOKING IN: THE FILMS OF LEONARDO FAVIO, a Special Retrospective Program of the 39th New York Film Festival, from September 29 to October 12, at the Walter Reade Theater.

A ten-film series, THE OUTSIDER LOOKING IN: THE FILMS OF LEONARDO FAVIO is a retrospective of the Argentine actor, singer, and director that includes all the films he directed, as well as two by mentor Leopoldo Torre Nilsson and one by Fernando Ayala, in which Favio appears as an actor.

This program was organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in collaboration with the Argentine Film Institute (INCAA) and the Chancellery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Buenos Aires, with the support of the Consulate General of Argentina in New York. Special thanks to José Miguel Onaindia, Jorge Sabaté, Javier Goliszewski, René Aure, Julio Maharbiz, Claudio España, Eduardo Antin, and especially Leonardo Favio.

An article by David Oubiña on Leonardo Favio appears in the September/October 2001 issue of Film Comment.

For most Latin Americans, Leonardo Favio is a polished composer and performer of emotional pop songs; for many Argentines, he is perhaps their single greatest director. For Americans, if he is known at all, it is as the leading actor in the films of Leopoldo Torre Nilsson and Fernando Ayala in the 1950s and early 1960s, when Argentina had a big presence on the foreign film scene. But few people are familiar with Favio the screenwriter and director.

The past few years have witnessed a return of Latin American cinema to the international film scene, and Argentina has been at its epicenter along with Mexico and Brazil (Amores Perros and Central Station are just two examples of the trend).
"Today’s Latin American cinema shows both the legacy of its historical development and a bold vision of a new future," says Richard Peña, Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Chairman of the Festival Selection Committee. "It is not surprising that these dynamic and diverse countries are producing some of the most exciting new film making around. The pleasant surprise is that, increasingly, we have more opportunities to get acquainted with them."

Nowhere is this Latin American renaissance more apparent than in Argentina; not only have production levels doubled over the past five years, but Argentine films have been among the most heralded works at recent festivals such as Berlin, Cannes, and Venice. The sensational film debuts La Ciénaga and La Libertad are highly anticipated events of the 39th New York Film Festival.

With this influx of Latin American cinema—the Walter Reade Theater recently launched two successful series, one on recent Argentine cinema and the record-setting Latin Beat! 2001—it is fitting that American audiences take this occasion to get acquainted with the films of Leonardo Favio, an Argentine original whose work has never fit easily into models for Latin American cinema created by some of its champions. THE OUTSIDER LOOKING IN: THE FILMS OF LEONARDO FAVIO portrays the work of a director with a distinct personal vision, who made his mark during a time of political upheaval and the subsequent collapse of the Argentine film industry.

Born in a small town in the province of Mendoza, Favio had a rough childhood that included time in a reform school (see Chronicle of a Lonely Child, his first screenplay and directorial bow for autobiographical hints), then took a stab at various occupations from boxing to singing, and eventually tried his luck in the movies in Buenos Aires.

In 1958, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, then a leading light of the emerging Argentine new wave, cast him in a major role in The Kidnapper. Overnight, Favio became a star and was newly dubbed "the Argentine James Dean," a symbol of the rebellious young generation that was dissatisfied with the old answers. Over the next decade, Leonardo Favio would continue to refine this acting persona in films directed by Torre Nilsson (Hand in the Trap) and Fernando Ayala (The Boss).

Encouraged by Torre Nilsson, Favio turned to directing in 1964, using his childhood as the basis for his screenplay. Chronicle of a Lonely Child is a searing look at a young, indigent boy and the institutions designed to care for him. Less a sociological film than an existential study of survival among outcasts, Chronicle of a Lonely Child shares none of the characteristics of the films of Argentina’s new wave, with their exploration of middle-class angst, nor did it identify with the politically militant films of the 60’s.

His second film as director, The Romance of Aniceto and Francisca (1967), is totally different in style and content. It is a stylistically bold work, a cross between rural drama and classical tragedy. A study of passion and betrayal in a traveling theatrical troupe, the film features a trio of would-be lovers bent on an inevitable course of self-destruction. In the leading male role, it is graced by a brilliant early performance by the great Federico Luppi.
One of Favio’s finest works, The Employee (1969), departs from the mythological aura of Romance of Aniceto and Francisca to offer an intense dissection of the dreams, fears and fantasies of a clerk in a small town hardware store waiting for the store’s owner to die. Starring Walter Vidarte, Graciela Borges (so riveting in this year’s La Ciénaga), and Favio himself, the film focuses on the raging passions hidden beneath the seemingly tranquil surface of daily life.

Chronicle, Romance, and The Employee constitute an informal trilogy for Favio. The films received strong critical support and created a fervent cult of admirers for the actor-director, but did not fare well at the box office. However, after his next three films—Juan Moreira (1973), a historical film in which the gaucho rebel turns into an outlaw because of the injustice he sees; Nazareno Cruz and The Wolf (1974), an ironic retelling of the werewolf myth; and Dream, Dream (1976), a dark comedy with boxer Carlos Monzón in the lead part—Favio became extremely successful and popular in Argentina.

The 1970s was not only a decade of artistic achievement for Favio; it also witnessed his growing involvement in politics, as he became a visible symbol of the Peronist movement, devoting himself to Juan Perón’s return to Argentina. The overthrow of the Peronist regime and the establishment of a military dictatorship led to Favio's abandoning the cinema for his other artistic passion: popular music. Starting in the late 1960s, he became a popular singer and composer. His albums, mostly romantic ballads in the pop vein, were enormously popular. After 1976, he devoted himself to music full time. In fact, many people who bought his recordings did not know that he had directed films at all.

In the early 1990s, after informally retiring from giving concerts, Favio announced his plans to return to filmmaking. His 1993 film Gatica is the story of a famous Argentine boxer whose life had many curious parallels to Favio’s own. The protagonist wavers between being himself and personifying the fulfillment of the people’s wishes and fantasies, something he shared with his hero, Juan Perón. In the most memorable scene in the film, Favio recreates a meeting between the boxer and the politician.

From 1995 through 2000, Favio devoted himself to Perón, A Symphony of Feeling, a massive, epic work on the life and legacy of Perón that aired widely on television and sold throughout Argentina on videocassette. A work of daring originality, the film is a provocative, disturbing look at a fascinating political figure often at odds with his admirers’s ideas about him. It is Favio’ only work not to open commercially in Argentina—it perhaps never will—a jigsaw puzzle of collaged elements (music, animation, and archival footage) that has left viewers perplexed and fascinated.

For the newest generation of Argentine filmmakers, Leonardo Favio is the embodiment of the notion of personal cinema, a director who remained resolutely true to his own vision, whether making small, cult favorites such as The Employee or box-office hits such as Nazareno and The Wolf.

COMPLETE FILM DESCRIPTIONS AND SCHEDULE

The Kidnapper / El Secuestrador (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Argentina, 1958; 75m)
After a brief try at singing (to which he would return years later, with great success), Favio was cast by Torre Nilsson as Berto, a tough-talking teenager, in this hard-edged tale set on the outskirts of Buenos Aires; it was the role that would make him a star. Berto meets and falls for Flavia (María Vaner), a young woman from the city, with whom Berto imagines a way out of his dead-end neighborhood. One night they head to a cemetery, hoping to spend some time alone together, when unexpectedly all the violence and horror Berto hopes to leave behind looms up all around them. Over the next few years, Favio would develop a close professional relationship with Torre Nilsson, for whom he would act in five important films. For many, Favio incarnated the restlessness and dissatisfaction of an emerging generation, a quality powerfully exploited by Torre Nilsson, Ayala, and others.
Mon Oct 1: 4 & 7:30; Tue Oct 2: 5:45 & 9:15

Chronicle of a Lonely Child / Cronica de un niño solo (Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 1965; 75m)
Already with this, his first feature, Favio joined the first ranks of those directors associated with the Argentine "new wave." Based partially on the director’s personal experiences in a children’s home, Chronicle is a searing, unsparing look at the fate of children entrusted to the care of the state when their parents are no longer able or willing to provide for them. Piolín—a remarkable performance by non-professional Diego Puente—suffers through the daily routine of humiliations, scarce food and threats of violence until he finally manages to escape. Once outside, however, he finds little to recommend his newfound freedom. French critic Marcel Martin once claimed that Chronicle was a film halfway between Vigo’s Zero for Conduct and Truffaut’s The Four Hundred Blows, yet it’s distinguished by a power that’s Favio’s very own, based on the intimacy with which Favio reveals Piolín’s world.
Mon Oct 1: 5:45 & 9:15; Tue Oct 2: 4 & 7:30

The Boss / El Jefe (Fernando Ayala, Argentina, 1958; 90m)
"A key work of Argentine cinema, based on a story by leftist writer David Viñas, El Jefe recounts the relations among a group of young delinquents in the new middle-class suburbs of Buenos Aires…The film’s resemblance to Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause is unmistakable, especially in the development of Favio’s supporting role. He plays a junior member of the gang who is too intelligent to fall for the thrills of intimidation but is driven into the gang’s arms and into adulation for its dynamic leader by an adolescent rebellion against the conservatism and impotence of his father, a representative of the country’s dying oligarchy. But the film went well beyond exposing the delinquency of contemporary Argentine youth and insinuating that its characters are typical—and logical—products of modern society. The image of the "jefe" was widely recognized as an allegory for the influence Perón held over Argentine society through the mixture of intimidation and rewards that bound his followers to him."—Timothy Barnard, South American Cinema
Wed Oct 3: 4 & 7:30; Thurs Oct 4: 5:30 & 9:15

The Romance of Aniceto and Francisca / Este es el romance del Aniceto y la Francisca, de cómo quedó trunco, comenzó la tristeza … y unas pocas cosas más
(Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 1967; 70m)
The Spanish title of Favio’s second film in many ways gives away his conceit: it resembles the advertising pitch of a traveling theater troupe announcing their latest production in some small rural community. And indeed, Favio’s film expresses the kind of harsh, almost elemental dramas of passion and betrayal so often performed by those troupes. Aniceto (a wonderful early performance by the great Federico Luppi) is a lonely man whose only companion is his rooster; Francisca (Elsa Daniel), a young woman, arrives in town looking for work, and soon the two are drawn to each other, seemingly a perfect match. Yet soon trouble looms on the horizon with the arrival of Lucía (María Vaner), a sensual woman who sets her sights on Aniceto. The film unreels somewhere between rural drama and classical tragedy; each character understands their role, knows what’s to become of them, yet seem unable to stop themselves, even if it leads to their own destruction.
Wed Oct 3: 5:50 & 9:20; Thurs Oct 4: 4 & 7:30

Hand in the Trap / La mano en la trampa (Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Argentina, 1961; 90m)
Favio was an established star when he accepted a secondary though decidedly key role in Hand in the Trap, the film widely considered to be Torre Nilsson’s masterpiece. A perfect example of the director’s critical social vision and baroque visual imagination, the film features a convoluted and fascinating plot. Home for the summer from her convent boarding school, Laura (Elsa Daniel) decides the time has come for her to unravel her family’s dark shameful secret: the supposed presence, shuttered away in the attic, of a retarded dwarf born of one of her late father’s amorous liaisons. Her partner in this endeavor is Miguel (Favio), a local stud with whom she’s been flirting for some time; the two discover that the path to solve the mystery lies in the person of Cristobal Achaval (Francisco Rabal), the 40-ish, drag-racing scion of the town’s richest family who years before had jilted Laura’s Aunt Inés, now said to be living happily in Alcatraz, USA. According to St. Augustine, he who puts his hand in the trap must carry the trap around with him forever, and Torre Nilsson’s film is an extraordinary meditation on that idea.
Fri Oct 5: 4 & 7:30

The Employee aka The Clerk / El dependiente (Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 1968; 87m)
Based on a story by Zuhair Jorge Jury—Favio’s brother, with whom he’s collaborated on all his screenplays—The Employee is a taut, chilling melodrama that shows Favio making a pass through the territory of his friend and mentor Torre Nilsson. Lonely and frustrated, Fernandez (Walter Vidarte) grinds out a living each day at a hardware store, waiting for the owner to die so he can take over the shop. That day finally comes, and soon Fernandez decides to get married as well. But that marriage, like the shop itself, proves to be a trap, and eventually Fernandez devises his own desperate means of escape. Favio avoids the gothic atmosphere and overtones of Torre Nilsson in favor of a colder, more distanced approach focused on the myriad of small details that form the living hell within which Fernandez finds himself caught.
Fri Oct 5: 5:50 & 9:20; Sun Oct 7: 1

Juan Moreira (Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 1973; 102m)
"Juan Moreira, by Leonardo Favio, is the best Argentine film to be screened probably since Favio’s last film over five years ago. The film is an accurate portrayal of the period, a summary of the struggles for supremacy in those Wild West days, seen through the archetypical story of a gaucho gone bad though no apparent fault of his own. Moreira, who rode the pampas in the latter half of the 19th century, does not understand the origins of his predicament, of the fury that turns him into an outcast, or why he is driven to kill again and again. His destiny is never his to shape; even during those moments of apparent victory he always stands to lose. Moreira becomes a protagonist of that same violence and lawlessness he has rebelled against…. In all, Leonardo Favio has made a film that at least rivals the best work by Brazilian director Glauber Rocha (Antonio das mortes), or any film made anywhere for that matter." —John Dickinson, Buenos Aires Herald
Sun Oct 7: 3; Mon Oct 8: 4 & 8:15; Tue Oct 9: 6:15

Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf / Nazareno Cruz y el lobo (Leonardo Favio, 1974; 92m)
"Based on a radio soap opera by J. C. Chiappe, Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf reinvents the legend of the werewolf in a mythic setting. Negotiating between his own aesthetic and the kitsch style of Latin American telenovelas, Favio approached the material as a melodramatic fable. Catchy music, diffused light, and delicate pastel colors form a backdrop to the romance between Nazareno and Griselda, pure and celestial lovers, who remain eternally young and beautiful. The Devil offers Nazareno power and wealth if he will renounce Griselda, but Nazareno is incapable of abandoning his passion: the townspeople warn him that ‘love, which for all beings means happiness, will mean tragedy for you.’ Happiness is forbidden to all who live condemned by an unjust fate. Surpassing the box office success of Juan Moreira, Nazareno Cruz became most-viewed Argentine film of all time."—David Oubiña in the September/October2001 issue of Film Comment
Sun Oct 7: 5:10; Mon Oct 8: 6:15; Tue Oct 9: 4:15

Dream, Dream / Soñar, Soñar (Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 1976; 82m)
In a career characterized by often uncategorizable works, Dream, Dream can be seen as perhaps Favio’s most eccentric work. Casting popular singer Gianfranco Pagliaro and champion boxer Carlos Monzón as his two leads, Favio creates a hymn to self-reinvention. Carlos (Monzón) leads a quiet life in a small town where he meets the fast-talking Miguel, a con artist who convinces Carlos that he must liberate himself by going to the big city. Once there, the two search for the success they know is just around the corner. In a sense, Dream, Dream can be read as the inverse of Nazareno Cruz; one is a mythical fantasy that becomes grounded in everyday human emotion, while the other starts as a contemporary comedy that takes on a fantastic tinge. Released a few months after the fall of the Peronist regime, Dream, Dream was not successful at the box office, leading Favio to re-invent himself—as a singer of romantic ballads, who within a few years would become one of Latin music’s biggest stars. He would not return to the cinema for 15 years.
Sun Oct 7: 7:10; Wed Oct 10: 4:15; Thurs Oct 11: 6:40

Gatica / Gatica, el mono (Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 1993; 135m)
Favio’s much-anticipated return to filmmaking was this free interpretation of the life of José María Gatica, an immensely popular Argentine boxer in the 1940s and 1950s nicknamed El Mono, "the monkey." The film focuses on a few key moments in Gatica’s rise and fall from grace, using the boxer as a potent guide to social and political turmoil of the period. As critics have noted, there’s an autobiographical resonance for Favio in the Gatica story. Like his protagonist he was born poor in the provinces, and came to Buenos Aires in the late 1940s along with thousands of others attracted by Peróns’ vision of a new society; the opening sequence, showing first impressions of the big city, is especially heartfelt. Favio’s visual gifts seem unaffected by his long absence from filmmaking, as he discovers a fresh approach to re-creating Gatica’s bouts in the ring.
Sun Oct 7: 9; Wed Oct 10: 6; Thurs Oct 11: 4

Perón, A Symphony of Feeling / Perón, sinfonía del sentimiento (Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 1999; 5h46m)
"Made during the course of more than five years, Perón, A Symphony of Feeling is Favio's only documentary, his only work shot on video, his only work that lasts six hours, and his only film not to open commercially (and which might possibly never open in Argentina). It's a kind of cursed film, an anomalous and didactic film. It's an enormous and hugely ambitious project: an attempt to explain Peronism—that jigsaw puzzle that mystifies foreigners and that the Argentines themselves don't really understand—from 1930 to 1974. Favio expresses, more eloquently than precisely, his own very personal view on a historical phenomenon that's more mystical than political. Completely different from anything else in his filmography, constructed as a collage composed of music, animated sequences and extraordinary archival footage, the film shows yet another side to the talent of the most obsessive and powerful director Argentina has ever produced."—Eduardo "Quintin" Antin, editor, El Amante Cine (Argentina)
Tue Oct 9: 8:30 (Part I, approx. 2h); Wed Oct 10: 8:30 (Part II, approx. 2h); Thurs Oct 11: 8:30 (Part III, approx. 2h)