Fernando Birri

Director Birri is an early pioneer of the new Latin American cinema movement. During the 1950s he studied filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Roma where he was greatly influenced by the cinematic style of Italian Neorealism. Upon returning to his native Argentina, Birri was determined to create a national cinematic style based on a more realistic portrayal of Argentine life. He met with industry resistance and so returned to Santa Fe where he began teaching a class in experimental film which later became a complete cinema school. Some of the best known features from the school includes the documentary Tire die (1954), and a neorealist feature film Los innundados (1961). Both films centered on Argentine social classes that have been traditionally ignored. In the early 1960s, Birri fled Argentina and ended up living in Italy, making few films, until the late 1970s when he returned to Latin America and resumed his teaching career in Mexico and Venezuela. In 1986 he was appointed the head of the International Film School in Havana, Cuba.

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide