Paper short abstract:

Through a formal analysis of the films Hacerme Feriante (Julián D’Angiolillo, 2010) and Fantasma (Lisandro Alonso, 2006), this paper will explore the representation of time and its local specificity in relation to the geography of Buenos Aires.

Paper long abstract:

Through a formal analysis of the films Hacerme Feriante (Julián D'Angiolillo, 2010) and Fantasma (Lisandro Alonso, 2006), this paper will explore the representation of time and its local specificity in relation to the geography of Buenos Aires.

Hacerme Feriante is an observational documentary, capturing both a transitional period in the history of La Salada (one of the largest informal markets in South America), and the speeds and rhythms of life and labour experienced by the stallholders, workers, and inhabitants of the market and its surrounding villas. Sited at the edge of the city, the market draws customers from around the interior of the country. Fantasma, on the other hand, presents a complex meta-fictional commentary on displacement and duration, as we watch two characters from Lisandro Alonso's previous films roam (separately) around the empty, desolate hulk of the Teatro San Martin in the very centre of the city. We associate both characters/actors with the brooding loneliness of the rural settings of La Libertad (Alonso, 2001) and Los Muertos (Alonso, 2004), where the routines of labour and speeds of travel also determined the rhythms of the films. Fantasma places those figures into a profoundly different context, creating a rupture through which a dream vision of the spaces of urban Buenos Aires may be considered in relation to class and cultural difference.