Lucrecia Martel

Series Site

Few contemporary directors have left a more indelible mark on world cinema than Lucrecia Martel, whose small but rich body of work has gained worldwide recognition since her debut feature, La Ciénaga, in 2001. Born in Salta—a culturally conservative region of northwestern Argentina—Martel studied film in Buenos Aires during one of the country’s worst economic crises, and eventually lent her worldview and sense of place to intimate, elliptical dramas that broke from the aesthetic and ideological tendencies of the prevailing national film scene. A singular artist, Martel combines a formal mastery—particularly through her attention to sound design—with a sensibility entirely her own, defined by atmosphere, mystery, and caustic humor alongside provocative critiques of class and patriarchy in Argentine society. To coincide with the U.S. release of her long-anticipated fourth feature, Zama, the Film Society revisits the work of one of cinema’s truly brilliant minds.

Organized by Dennis Lim and Dan Sullivan.

Acknowledgments:
UCLA Film & Television Archive; more TK