‘MASTERS : LUCRECIA MARTEL’

Between 24 and 26 February, Lucrecia Martel will be in Brussels for the very first time to introduce Belgian audiences to some of her new works. BOZAR is devoting three evenings to the filmmaker, who will be present for the screening of her films.

Lucrecia Martel (1966) has made just four feature-length fictions to date, yet international critics already consider her to be one of the major directors of the 21st century. Since 2001, her four films have all been honoured by major international film festivals (Berlin, Cannes and Venice).

In 2001, Lucrecia Martel’s first feature-length film, La Ciénaga, was a revelation! Henceforth, she has established herself as a prodigious director and one of the most influential figures in Argentinian cinema.

The recognition of Lucrecia Martel’s work symbolises the revival of Argentinian cinema which, following years of dictatorship, is flourishing thanks to a new generation of filmmakers such as  Lisandro Alonso, Pablo Trapero, Santiago Loza, Fabian Bielinzky. These young talents share an intense creativity and an irrepressible desire to show their country and tell its tale.

In her first three feature-length films (La Ciénaga, La Nina Santa and Una Mujer sin Cabeza), Lucrecia Martel depicts human relations in the Argentinian bourgeoisie through the story of three women subjected to the asphyxiating pressure of a well-meaning society.

Her films, sometimes qualified as sensualist and elliptical, explore themes such as patriarchy, religion, the existential crisis of the middle classes, social differences and post-colonialism.
With Zama, her latest film after 9 years of absence and presented in Venice in 2017, Lucrecia Martel changes register, offering a minimalist, unconventional fresco, this time with a man in the lead role. Pedro Almovodar, a great admirer of the filmmaker, coproduced this latest opus.
Zama is a major work. The New York Times describes it as one of the best films of 2018.