Martín Rejtman

Martín Rejtman was born 3 January 1961 in Buenos Aires.[1] He studied cinema at the Escuela Panamericana de Arte in Buenos Aires. He then took two years of film studies at New York University, making a short film every week.[2] His first full-length film, Rapado, was criticised by the National Film Institute of Argentina (INCAA), so he looked to foreign funders and settled upon a frugal film-making style which uses small crews and a low budget.[2] Rejtman has a minimalist filmmaking style. He said, "When I made Rapado, I felt that Argentine cinema had too much dialogue, and bad dialogue at that. I hate adornments, I hate artifice, I hate anything that's unnecessary, because there really is nothing beyond the screen."[2] Rapado was based on a short story Rejtman had written in 1992 and was partly funded by the Dutch Hubert Bals Fund.[2] It premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.[3]

Rejtman then made Silvia Prieto (1999), The Magic Gloves (2003, originally Los Guantes mágicos), Elementary Training for Actors (2009, originally Entrenamiento elemental para actores) and Two Shots Fired (2014).[4] He is regarded as a key figure in the New Argentine Cinema, alongside Esteban Sapir.[3] In 2009, he filmed a documentary, Copacabana, about a Bolivian festival in Buenos Aires.[3]

He then planned to make a film in Santiago, Chile, provisionally titled The Practice (La práctica). This was his first film made outside Argentina and follows an Argentine yoga instructor living in Chile.[5] Regarding the change in routine, Rejtman commented that he liked Santiago after editing the sound for Two Shots Fired there and that "every day in Buenos Aires I witness how places I’d love to include in my films are getting lost or destroyed [...] in Santiago it is possible that the same phenomenon happens, but those altered locations are new to me."[5] Before filming started on The Practice, Rejtman released a comedic short film, Shakti. He said it concerned "a Jewish young man, the death of his grandmother, depression, Hare Krishnas, Pesach (Passover), and potato knishes."[5]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rejtman began work on a documentary about the delivery drivers of Buenos Aires. Since most of the drivers are Venezuelan, Rejtman commented that the film was about both migration and the gig economy.[6] It won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.[6] The film is entitled Riders (originally El Repartidor Está en Camino).[7]

Director

• Doli vuelve a casa (1986) (short)
• Sistema español (1988) (short)
• Rapado (1992)
• Silvia Prieto (1999)
• The Magic Gloves (2003) (Los Guantes mágicos)
• Copacabana (2006) (documentary)
• Elementary Training for Actors (Entrenamiento elemental para actores) (2009) with Federico León
• Two Shots Fired (2014)
• Shakti (2019) (short)

Wins

• Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best First Film, Martín Rejtman; for: Rapado: 1997.

Nominations

• Locarno International Film Festival: Golden Leopard; Martín Rejtman; for: Rapado; 1992.
• Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Original Screenplay; for: Silvia Prieto; 2000.
• Locarno International Film Festival: Golden Leopard; for: Los Guantes mágicos; 2003.

• Cinema of Argentina

• Martín Rejtman at Cinenacional.com (in Spanish) (archive)
• Martín Rejtman at IMDb