Mario Handler Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Mario Handler
Directing
Biography
Mario Handler was born on November 10, 1935 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He is a renowned filmmaker and photographer, considered by many to be the pioneer of Uruguayan militant cinema. He made his debut film "Vanguardista" in 1958. Afterwards he traveled to Germany where he did an internship in scientific cinema at the IWF (Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film). Later, in Czechoslovakia he made a documentary called In Prague. He focused primarily on class struggles. Some of his first works are "Carlos" (1964), a film-portrait of a homeless man, "Me Gustan Los Estudiantes" (1968) and "Liber Arce, Liberation" (1969) about the student protests. In 1972 he goes into exile to Venezuela due to the imminent rise to power of the military forces and the subsequent coup. Handler's later work in Venezuela involves themes of colonial domination and cultural roots, and examinations on forms of syncretism and popular religiosity. After several years of exile, he returned to Uruguay in 1999, where he directed several feature-lenght documentaries like Aside (2002) and Broken columns (2015). In 2000 he became a professor in Audiovisual Cinema at the University of the Republic.
Filmography Movies
Production
Two Ports and a Hill
After several close calls with death squads, Mario Handler fled Uruguay in 1973 and eventually settled in Venezuela where he lived and continued to make films before returning to Uruguay in recent years. The first film he completed in exile, Dos puertos y un cerro is an essay film about the imbalances of trade. A narrator dispassionately recounts in voice-over a brief summation of Venezuela's situation as a hub port in the establishment of the colonial system in the sixteenth-century.
Sugar Cane Workers
During the second half of the 1960s, the Unión de Trabajadores Azucareros de Artigas (UTAA) carried out a series of marches from the north of the country to Montevideo, demanding better living conditions for its workers. These mobilizations took place in a context of economic crisis in the country and growing political and social conflict. Filmmakers Mario Handler, Alberto Miller and Marcos Banchero recorded some of these mobilizations at the time, contributing to the visibility of this sector of society, whose conditions of exploitation had been unknown to the capital's gaze until then. Cañeros, by Mario Handler, records the 1965 march and was made within the framework of the Instituto de Cinematografía de la Universidad de la República.
Aside
Rare images of real life stories in the so-called "asentamientos" in the poor underbelly of Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, and in its youth jails. The difficulties of finding a job and scraping together some money, the temptations of crime and its harsh consequences, the lack of culture and knowledge of the basics of life, are all intertwined in parallel lives.
Aside
Rare images of real life stories in the so-called "asentamientos" in the poor underbelly of Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, and in its youth jails. The difficulties of finding a job and scraping together some money, the temptations of crime and its harsh consequences, the lack of culture and knowledge of the basics of life, are all intertwined in parallel lives.
Aside
Rare images of real life stories in the so-called "asentamientos" in the poor underbelly of Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, and in its youth jails. The difficulties of finding a job and scraping together some money, the temptations of crime and its harsh consequences, the lack of culture and knowledge of the basics of life, are all intertwined in parallel lives.
Aside
Rare images of real life stories in the so-called "asentamientos" in the poor underbelly of Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, and in its youth jails. The difficulties of finding a job and scraping together some money, the temptations of crime and its harsh consequences, the lack of culture and knowledge of the basics of life, are all intertwined in parallel lives.
Juegos y Rondas Tradicionales del Uruguay
Documentary made from the record of five manifestations of Uruguayan children's folklore: «El rango», «La rayuela», «Andelito de oro», «La farolera» and «San Severín del monte» / «Los oficios».
Colonial Times
Three centuries of Venezuela's history as a Spanish colony are considered from economic, political and social standpoints; evocations of the past are compared to the present. Based on the ideas and research of Federico Brito Figueroa, Alfredo A. Alfonso, Miguel A. Saignes, Josefina Jordan, and Thaelman Urgelles among others.
Colonial Times
Three centuries of Venezuela's history as a Spanish colony are considered from economic, political and social standpoints; evocations of the past are compared to the present. Based on the ideas and research of Federico Brito Figueroa, Alfredo A. Alfonso, Miguel A. Saignes, Josefina Jordan, and Thaelman Urgelles among others.
Colonial Times
Three centuries of Venezuela's history as a Spanish colony are considered from economic, political and social standpoints; evocations of the past are compared to the present. Based on the ideas and research of Federico Brito Figueroa, Alfredo A. Alfonso, Miguel A. Saignes, Josefina Jordan, and Thaelman Urgelles among others.
Gallery
