Buenos Aires brouhaha.

A few days ago, Andrew James Horton mentioned that, towards the end of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, "a petition was circulating in protest of the removal of Eduardo Antín from his job as director of the Buenos Aires Film Festival [the official site seems to be down at the moment], despite his internationally recognized success at raising the profile of Argentinean cinema."

In case you were wondering what all that's about - and if you hadn't been wondering, you may well find the whole story far more interesting that it might seem at first glance - Cinema Scope has just posted Leonardo D'Esposito's interview with Antín (also known as Quintín) wherein he explains what's happened as he's experienced it and adds: "What worries me most is the authoritarianism of a government that claims to be progressive. I feel offended as a citizen, and it is my duty to make it public."

The petition Andrew mentioned is being circulated among critics, programmers and filmmakers and will appear in the January issue of Cahiers du cinéma.

Posted by dwhudson at December 5, 2004 12:52 PM