page_title: Contrakultura Films
section_title: Perfiles
hierarchical_section_title: Contrakultura Films / Perfiles
caption_attribution_description: English: Osvaldo Bayer holding the 16mm Bolex camera used by the director during the filming of “Los cuentos del Timonel”.
context_page_description: Contrakultura Films was an imprint of Iruña Films, SA a Buenos Aires film production effort dedicated to producing biographical documentaries on Latin American writers. Production offices were located in San Telmo. Soledad Liendo, Leonardo Hussen and Rodolfo Durán were among the producers. The initiative later expanded to include visual artists such as Andrés Waissman and Humberto Calzada, and [social scientists] such as León Rozitchner, Ismael Viñas, Juan Jose Sebreli and Jorge Lovisolo. Contrakultura existed as such between 2002 and 2006 producing approximately twenty-five documentaries with the support of INCAA, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, and the Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación. These films are presently owned by [Heritage Film Project], and currently being distributed by Alexander Street Press.
  The initial “Contrakultural series" was known as “Perfiles”, and was made of thirteen biographical documentaries. The series was presented at the Biennial Northeast Regional Meeting "Luso-Hispanic Presence in the Changing Cultural Landscape of America", organized by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University.
context_section_description: Perfiles (Profiles), was a series of thirteen documentaries about Latin American writers produced by Eduardo Montes-Bradley for Contrakultura in Buenos Aires. Previous biographical documentaries by Montes-Bradley include essays on Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Osvaldo Soriano and Osvaldo Bayer. The series Perfiles was initially made of thirteen tiles of 80 minutes each. The average budget for each of the documentaries was $65,000 of which 25% came as advance distribution fees advance from Patagonia Film Group, LLC, and 75% was subsidized by the Ministry of Culture of Argentina. More titles were eventually added to the original thirteen.
  Una cierta mirada (A Certain Look), 2004. Conversations with Juan José Sebreli. Sebreli recalls his life ass he takes the audience for a ride around timeless Buenos Aires, the architectural and sociopolitical landmarks that define his early childhood, adolescence and the rest of his life. In a way, this doc can be watched as a 20th-century Tour Guide of Buenos Aires, a sketch on Peronism and yet, more. Sebreli's perception of the surroundings, the arts, architecture and the music of the city is a constant throughout the film. Shot in Black and White. Particular emphasis is given to the fundamental changes that took place in the urban transformation of the capital city from single homes in the barrio of Constitución to the apartment buildings that came in response to the population growth. Sebreli also approaches the transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, and the architectural evolution of Theaters and Movie Theaters. Another constant reference in the film is to the gay life in Buenos Aires through his lifetime.
  Le mot Juste. Conversations with Héctor Tizón. The documentary, directed by Eduardo Montes-Bradley, follows the writer to Yala, birthplace and home of Héctor Tizón in Jujuy, Argentina. In a series of candid conversations, Tizón evokes his childhood, and the experience of living between two extremely different cultures: the Quechua the cosmogonies of his native homeland, and the Spanish of the conquistadores perpetuated to this day through the characterization of the Argentine national pride. In Le mot Juste Tizón explores the idea of exile in different directions with particular emphasis to the exile of the native peoples of the Puna under the cultural prevalence of the Spanish Culture and Catholic traditions. Tizón also talks in this film about his personal experience in a different exile, the one that forced him to leave Argentina during the military regime of Jorge Rafael Videla.
  La otra orilla (The Opposite Shore) Biographical sketch on psychotherapist Luis Gusmán, member of Revista Sitio and writer-member of the generation of Osvaldo Lamborghini and Germán García. Gusmán is a Konex Award recipient. La otra orilla follows Gusmán from his native Avellaneda, in the peripheral and less privileged southern suburbs of Buenos Aires, to the middle class-hipster Palermo in the capital city. The film includes previously unknown tango recordings of Luis Gusmán's father. The actual interviews with Gusmám were conducted behind the camera by film student Yael Szmulewicz under the supervision of Montes-Bradley, camera by Alejandro Ortiz, Sound by Horacio Almada. DV | 70 min. and 70 min. version.
  Planeta Bizzio, (Planet Bizzio) Documentary on the life and works of Sergio Bizzio, off beat-poet, playwright and novelist. Interview conducted by Nadina Fushimi.
  Deliciosas perversiones polimorfas. An intimate portrait of Alberto Laiseca. Laiseca is a cult literary figure of Buenos Aires better known for his fictional metaphysics. The documentary explores the relationship between Laiseca and his father, a rural family doctor living in Córdoba. References to Edgar A. Poe, William Shakespeare and the imminent arrival of the Antichrist are constant leitmotivs in the film.
  Si yo fuera realmente Libre (If I Were Truly Free). Biographical essay on the life and works of Alan Pauls. Interview conducted by Daniel Guebel.
  Ecce Homo. Biographical essay on the writer, and cultural icon Juan Filloy. The f
caption: Bayer with 16mm Bolex during the filming of Los cuentos del Timonel.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Artist": "Eduardo Montes-Bradley", "Image Copyright": "\u00a9 2010 Eduardo Montes-Bradley"}