In the 1970s, a group of artists and filmmakers, mostly Argentine-born but also including two German immigrants, formed an informal, loosely knit collective that began making experimental work in 16mm and soon moved on to the more inexpensive Super 8 format. Because the members of this group often screened their individual films (each made with the assistance of his or her colleagues) at the Goethe Institute in Buenos Aires, they were later labeled the Goethe Group. Included among them were filmmakers Narcisa Hirsch, Claudio Caldini, Marielouise Alemann, and Horacio Vallereggio. This lecture explores the various historical factors and aesthetic tendencies that made the work of the Goethe Group a singular phenomenon within Argentina. It will also show how notions of “experimental film” that are specific to Latin America in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s can help us better understand the Group’s contributions to the film culture of the era. Excerpts from films by the filmmakers listed above, as well as others such as Jorge Honik, will be screened during the talk.
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