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.
Born 1935 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Studied engineering, photography, violin and cinema.
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).
1958-1963 : Various amateur films, as well as scientific films, in Montevideo, Utrecht, Göttingen.
1964 : "En Praga" (FAMU, Checoslovaquia).
1988 : "Mestizo", feature film, director, producer, script, editing.
1998 : "Ágora", five one-hour documentaries for TV, director.
American Southern Cone Independent Festival, Montevideo, 1965. Main Prize for "Carlos"
Prince Claus Fund prize-subsidy for APARTE, 30,000 euros, 2002.
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."