In the 2022 list, Leonardo Favio was the director with the greatest presence among the top 100 films, with eight titles.[1]
The 100 Greatest Films of Argentine Cinema (Spanish: Las 100 mejores películas del cine argentino), also known as the Survey of Argentine cinema (Spanish: Encuesta de cine argentino), are a series of opinion polls carried out to establish a list of the greatest films of Argentine cinema of all time. The original survey was carried out by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in the years 1977, 1984, 1991 and 2000.[1] In 2022, a new edition was held, organized by the film magazines La vida útil, Taipei and La tierra quema, with support from INCAA, the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the FestiFreak International Film Festival of La Plata, the Casa de la Cultura of General Roca and the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken.[2]
In the 1977 and 1984 lists, Prisioneros de la tierra (1939) by Mario Soffici reached first place, while Crónica de un niño solo (1965) by Leonardo Favio was the most voted in 2000.[3] In the 2022 survey, the first place went to La Ciénaga (2001) by Lucrecia Martel by a wide margin.[4][5] The 2022 list generated debate regarding the need for a national Cinematheque (a longtime demand of the local film community), since the difficult or non-existent access to many works from the past greatly affected the result.[1][6]
Surveys by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken
The original surveys were carried out by the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken in Buenos Aires in the years 1977, 1984, 1991 and 2000.[1] The results of the last survey were published in the 4th issue of La mirada cautiva, the museum's magazine, which also included the top ten from the 1977 and 1984 polls.[3]
Survey of 2022
Development
In 2022, the film magazines La vida útil, Taipei and La tierra quema decided to carry out a new survey inspired by the previous ones.[1] In the editorial accompanying the list, they stated: "When members of our magazines found out about their existence, almost simultaneously and through different channels, we immediately thought it would be a good idea to carry out a new version of the survey."[1] The project was carried out with the support of INCAA, the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the FestiFreak International Film Festival of La Plata, the Casa de la Cultura of General Roca and the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken.[2]
Various critics, journalists, researchers, historians, programmers, collectors, directors, screenwriters, producers, actors, cinematographers, editors and sound engineers, among other film-related jobs, participated in the 2022 survey.[1] More than 1,000 invitations were sent, of which 546 responses were obtained, including 812 different titles; each participant chose their 10 favorite Argentine films, of any year and length, with all of them having the same value at the time of counting.[1] Due to the coincidences in the number of votes, 62 ranking positions were formed,[1] and the "Top 100" actually consists of 103 films divided into 52 positions.[4]
The results of the Encuesta de cine argentino 2022 (English: "2022 Survey of Argentine cinema") were presented at the 37th Mar del Plata International Film Festival on 11 November 2022.[7][8] During the presentation of the list, Paula Félix-Didier, director of the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken, declared that the "survey has the specific and explicit idea of developing a canon of Argentine cinema and serves to discuss, open doors and draw attention about some things."[7] The first place went to La Ciénaga (2001) by Lucrecia Martel by a wide margin.[4]
The top 10 positions in the 1977 and 1984 polls, as well as the top 100 in the 2000 poll, were published in 4th issue of La mirada cautiva, the magazine of the Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken.[3]
In the 2022 list, La Ciénaga (2001) by Lucrecia Martel(pictured) was the most voted film by a wide margin, and all her films appear in the Top 100.[5]
Due to the coincidences in the number of votes, the "Top 100" of the Encuesta de cine argentino 2022 actually consists of 103 films divided into 52 positions.[1][4] The total list has 812 titles and 62 ranking positions, belonging to the latter all the titles that had only one vote.[1]