The Endless Film Explained

La Película Infinita (The Endless Film or The Infinite Film) is a 2018 Argentinian experimental documentary film directed by Leandro Listorti,^[1] his first feature-length work.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Summary

La Película Infinita is a film essay^[5] featuring an assemblage of never completed films^{[6] [7]} from the 1950s onwards from archives of a Buenos Aires film museum (for which the director is also curator), presenting an alternate parallel history of film and tracing a national cinema that never was invoking the ghosts of the country's dictatorial past.^{[8] [4]}

Films featured

The following films^{[9] [10]} were featured in unfinished fragments:

• Nicolás Sarquís’s failed 1984 adaptation of Zama (1984)
• El eternauta (Hugo Gil; 1968)
• La neutrónica explotó en Burzaco (Alejandro Agresti; 1984)
• Sistema español (Martín Rejtman; 1988)
• El ocio (Mariano Llinás and Agustín Mendilaharzu; 1999)

Release

It was released in Argentina on August 2, 2018 where it grossed $190.^[11]

Reception

A review compared this assemblage of films to the "Frankenstein's method".^[12] Another review found the film was failed and "mechanical".^[13] A more appreciative assessment can be found at Desistfilm: "It is likely that everything lost at some point can have a second life, from the words that were not said to the images that were not filmed, La Película Infinita is just a sample of that videolibrary of Babel that is hidden somewhere and where all the lost cinema is kept; and we need more Listortis and Bill Morrisons that know how to show them before our eyes."^[14]

See also

• Film preservation
• Lost film
• Zama - a 2017 film directed by Lucrecia Martel
• La Memoria Infinita

External links

• Official website
• Official trailer
• IMDb
• MUBI

Notes and References

1. Web site: La Película Infinita - Maravillacine . 2024-01-31 . en-US.
2. Web site: La película infinita (The Endless Film). Labocine.
3. https://www.viennale.at/en/guest/leandro-listorti Leandro Lisorti|Viennale
4. https://www.ica.art/films/uk-premiere-we-still-have-to-close-our-eyes-the-endless-film-introduction ICA | UK PREMIERE We Still Have to Close Our Eyes + The Endless Film + introduction
5. Web site: Screening and Discussion: The Endless Film (2018) and Parable of the Return (2016) . 2024-01-21 . New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
6. https://harvardfilmarchive.org/programs/herbaria Herbaria - Harvard Film Archive
7. https://metrograph.com/take-care/ Take Care - Journal - Metrograph
8. Web site: La película infinita . 2024-01-22 . IFFR.
9. Web site: March 14, 2019 . La Película Infinita (The Endless Film) . 2024-01-22 . maysles documentary center.
10. https://www.cinematropical.com/cinema-tropical/daily-recommendation-the-endless-film Daily Recommendation: THE ENDLESS FILM — Cinema Tropical
11. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt7780808/credits/?ref_=bo_tt_tab Box Office Mojo
12. Web site: 2018-05-05 . Crítica de "La película infinita" de Leandro Listorti (2018) – Cinefilo Serial . 2024-01-31 . es.
13. Web site: La película infinita (Leandro Listorti, 2018) Cine Documental . 2024-01-31 . es.
14. Web site: ROTTERDAM 2018: LA PELÍCULA INFINITA DE LEANDRO LISTORTI – desistfilm . 2024-01-31 . en-US.