Marcelo Martinessi

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Marcelo Martinessi at the Berlinale 2018

Marcelo Martinessi (* 1973 in Asunción ) is a Paraguayan film director and screenwriter .

Life

Marcelo Martinessi was born in Paraguay's capital Asunción, where he grew up and studied communication studies. This was followed by a degree in film studies at the London Film School .

Martinessi made his debut as a filmmaker in 2009 with the black-and-white, 19-minute short film Karai Norte , which was about the civil war in his home country. His second short film, the 20-minute Calle última (2011), came out of a workshop with street children in Asunción. In 2010, after the democratic change of power in Paraguay, Martinessi was commissioned to design the country's first public television station. After the "coup d'état" in 2012, he resigned from the post of managing director. He processed the following political chaos with the twelve-minute documentary short film La voz perdida (international title: The Lost Voice ), which tells of the events in Curuguaty with 17 dead. The film earned Martinessi the Venice Horizons Award at the 2016 Venice Film Festival .

In 2018 Martinessi completed his first feature film with Die Erbinnen (English festival title: The Heiresses ). The melodrama is about an older woman from the upper class of Asunción (portrayed by Ana Brun ), who begins to emancipate herself when her more dominant partner ( Margarita Irún ) ends up in custody for over-indebtedness. Las herederas was the first work by a Paraguayan director to be invited to the Berlinale competition. There Martinessi received the Alfred Bauer Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize for the best film in the competition for the Golden Bear .

Filmography

  • 2009: Karai norte (short film)
  • 2011: Calle última (short film)
  • 2013: La voz perdida (documentary short film)
  • 2018: The Heiresses (Las herederas)

Awards (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Martinessi, Marcelo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Paraguayan film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Asunción , Paraguay