Mario Handler

Mario Handler is a documentary filmmaker, teacher and founder of the third world cinemateque in uruguay. i heard about him through watching a tv documentary in montevideo on his work. watching him talk about his films and uruguayan cinema, made me want to know more about his documentaries, especially his latest one "aparte" (aside) which deals with the poverty in montevideo. here’s an article about it.

Biography / Filmography / Awards / Some writings about Mario Handler
(follow each link)

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BIOGRAPHY

Born 1935 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Studied engineering, photography, violin and cinema.

Photojournalism in various magazines.

Studied in Goettingen (scientific film), Utrecht (documentaries), Prague (FAMU Cinema School) ; made short films in each case.

Founder of the Third World Cinemateque (Uruguay).

Taught Cinema and Still Photography at the Central University of Venezuela.

Practiced various specialties : camera, editing (edited several full-length features, as well as many documentaries), script, and production, and in addition has attended courses in playwriting, acting, and direction of actors.

Developed his own computer programming for cinema production (not marketed).

Guest Professor at Stanford University (U.S.A., February 1994) ; lecturing also at U.C.S.C. and M.I.T.

Developed a new system for synchronized and separate subtitling of film copies, in use in Cinemateca Uruguaya, and at the Cinemateca Nacional (Venezuela).

President of ASOPROD (Asoc. De Prod. Y Real. De Cine y Video, Uruguay) in 2001.

Currently teaching Film (full professor) at the Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Recently acted as jury-member for several events, including FONA 1999, Fribourg, and foreign selector-advisor for the San Luis Cine Fund (Argentina).

Speak several languages.

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FILMOGRAPHY

1958-1963 : Various amateur films, as well as scientific films, in Montevideo, Utrecht, Göttingen.

1964 : "En Praga" (FAMU, Checoslovaquia).

1965 : "Carlos, cine-retrato de un caminante en Montevideo" (Uruguay)

1967 : "Elecciones" (codirected with Ugo Ulive) (Uruguay)

1968 : "Me gustan los estudiantes" (Uruguay)

1969-1971 : Several jobs for RAI-TV, as a producer, cameraman, screenwriter. (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile)

1969 : "El problema de la carne" (Uruguay)

1970 : Works for the Cinemateca del Tercer Mundo : newsreels, teaching, collaborations. (Uruguay)

1970 : "Líber Arce, liberarse" (directs the collective of the Cinemateca del Tercer Mundo) (Uruguay)

1970 : "Indios" (three programs for RAI-TV) (in México)

1973 : "Fray Bentos, una epidemia de sarampión" (codirected) (Uruguay)

1973-1984 : Several jobs in cinema, video, editing, screenwriting, direction, etc. in Venezuela

1975 : "Dos Puertos Y Un Cerro" (Venezuela)

1977 : "Tiempo Colonial" (Venezuela)

1979 : "María Lionza, un culto de Venezuela" (codirected with Raquel Romero) (Venezuela)

1988 : "Mestizo", feature film, director, producer, script, editing.

1998 : "Ágora", five one-hour documentaries for TV, director.

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AWARDS

 American Southern Cone Independent Festival, Montevideo, 1965. Main Prize for "Carlos"
 Best National Film. "Carlos", Uruguay, 1965
 Best National Film. "Elections", Uruguay, 1968
 Prize for the work of Mario Handler, Merida, Venezuela, 1968
 "Joris Ivens" Prize, Leipzig, Germany, 1969
 Municipal Prize for best short, "Colonial Times", Caracas, 1976
 Grand Prize for Documentary, Bilbao Festival of Short Films, "Colonial Times", 1977
 Best Latin-American Film, Bilbao Festival of Short Films, "Colonial Times", 1977
 Third Prize in the decade 1970-1980 at the First National Cine Festival, "Colonial Times", Merida, Venezuela, 1980
 Prizes for Best Photography and Best Sound for a Full Feature, "Mestizo", Caracas, 1989
 Best Editing Feature Film, ANAC (Caracas, January 1994), D.F. (Caracas, June 1994), ANAC (Caracas, 1995), Casa del Artista (Caracas, 1996)
 Fondo Nacional del Audiovisual (FONA, Uruguay, 2000), U$ 40,000 Prize-subsidy for APARTE
 Prince Claus Fund prize-subsidy for APARTE, 30,000 euros, 2002.

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ABOUT MARIO HANDLER

Fernando Rodriguez in "Cine-oja" no.2 : "...Mario Handler’s short film ("In Prague") is an exceptional work in the field of documentary films from Latin America. Handler walks through Prague as an intelligent pedestrian with a camera in his hand... The camera dances, inquires, persists, gets drunk, lost and ecstatic... the aliveness of this free wandering... lends the film a most admirable freshness... I think few Latin American films can display more perceptive, surprising and personal photography. One is reminded of the great reporters from Magnum (Cartier-Bresson, Chim, Capa, etc.) watching this admirable gallery of portraits which, without violating reality, unearth essences and secrets..."

Georges Sadoul ("History of World Cinema", ed. Siglo XXI) : "The activity of the ’new cinema’ in Uruguay is centered upon the figure of Mario Handler... he manages to make every creative act in the analytical sense a practical investigation (and nearly always the first) of the subject... With these documentaries, the ’new cinema’ in Uruguay - with Mario Handler at its head - has taken on a radical look very much in accordance with the current situation in the country, and within which cinema is securely placed as a more authentic cultural expression."

Claire Dévarrieux ("Le Monde", 27 December 79) : "And the best short we have seen was Venezuelan : "TWO PORTS AND A MOUNTAIN", by Mario Handler, contrasts the arrival of deluxe consumer goods via an elegant port, with the departure of iron ore ; the riches of the nation which depart in an almost shamefully fashion, and all is shown in a shady and dirty decor."

Lino Miccichè ("Il nuovo cinema degli anni ’60", ed. ERI) : "... Mario Handler, firstly the author of the original and stimulating ’Carlos’, a thoughtful but pressing chronicle of the times, experiences and reflections of a ’bichicome’ (vagabond) ; and later, the excellent ’Elecciones’... The "author" in this kind of cinema devotes every aspect of his personality in making it."

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Source lovean.blogspot.fr