La Película Infinita (The Endless Film or The Infinite Film) is a 2018 Argentinian experimental documentary film directed by Leandro Listorti,[1] his first feature-length work.[2][3][4]

Summary

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La Película Infinita is a film essay[5] featuring an assemblage of never completed films[6][7] from the 1950s onwards from archives of a Buenos Aires film museum (for which the director is also curator), presenting an alternate parallel history of film and tracing a national cinema that never was invoking the ghosts of the country's dictatorial past.[8][4]

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The following films[9][10] were featured in unfinished fragments:

  • Nicolás Sarquís’s failed 1984 adaptation of Zama (1984)
  • El eternauta (Hugo Gil; 1968)
  • La neutrónica explotó en Burzaco (Alejandro Agresti; 1984)
  • Sistema español (Martín Rejtman; 1988)
  • El ocio (Mariano Llinás and Agustín Mendilaharzu; 1999)

Release

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It was released in Argentina on August 2, 2018 where it grossed $190.[11]

Reception

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A review compared this assemblage of films to the "Frankenstein's method".[12] Another review found the film was failed and "mechanical".[13] A more appreciative assessment can be found at Desistfilm: "It is likely that everything lost at some point can have a second life, from the words that were not said to the images that were not filmed, La Película Infinita is just a sample of that videolibrary of Babel that is hidden somewhere and where all the lost cinema is kept; and we need more Listortis and Bill Morrisons that know how to show them before our eyes."[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "La Película Infinita - Maravillacine". Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  2. ^ "La película infinita (The Endless Film)". Labocine.
  3. ^ Leandro Lisorti|Viennale
  4. ^ a b ICA | UK PREMIERE We Still Have to Close Our Eyes + The Endless Film + introduction
  5. ^ "Screening and Discussion: The Endless Film (2018) and Parable of the Return (2016)". New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  6. ^ Herbaria - Harvard Film Archive
  7. ^ Take Care - Journal - Metrograph
  8. ^ "La película infinita". IFFR. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  9. ^ "La Película Infinita (The Endless Film)". maysles documentary center. March 14, 2019. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  10. ^ Daily Recommendation: THE ENDLESS FILM — Cinema Tropical
  11. ^ Box Office Mojo
  12. ^ "Crítica de "La película infinita" de Leandro Listorti (2018) – Cinefilo Serial" (in Spanish). 2018-05-05. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  13. ^ "La película infinita (Leandro Listorti, 2018) | Cine Documental" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-01-31.
  14. ^ "ROTTERDAM 2018: LA PELÍCULA INFINITA DE LEANDRO LISTORTI – desistfilm". Retrieved 2024-01-31.
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