Argentine film among shortlisted for British award

Film Argentina 1985 was shortlisted in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 76th edition of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, the Télam agency highlighted today.

According to the scheduled contest, on the 19th of this month the final list of the five feature films that will compete for said recognition will be announced.

Celebrated and awarded by critics, the work directed by Santiago Miter and starring Ricardo Darín not only proposes an approach to a terrible past, but also constitutes a call to preserve memory to avoid a return to the times of State terrorism.

Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina experienced the darkest moments in its history and more than 30 thousand people were kidnapped, detained, tortured and assassinated by the last military dictatorship in this country.

In this context, Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo and other organizations denounced horrors committed by the regime and began the incessant search for the truth.

By decrees of former President Raúl Alfonsín (1927-2009), in 1983 the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons was created.

Two years later, in 1985, the process against the dictators Jorge Rafael Videla, Emilio Eduardo Massera, Orlando Ramón Agosti, Roberto Eduardo Viola, Armando Lambruschini, Omar Domingo Rubens, Leopoldo Galtieri, Jorge Anaya and Basilio Lami Dozo began.

The film recounts the work of prosecutor Julio Strassera and his deputy, Luis Moreno, at a time when the prosecution of military leaders was obstructed by the Armed Forces.

During the accusation of the repressors, Strassera asserted: ‘I want to use a phrase that does not belong to me because it already belongs to all the Argentine people. Judges: Never again!’.

The sentence of five of the nine defendants was considered a historic event and a blow to impunity.

However, the relatives and friends of the victims demanded the continuity of the investigations and the application of justice against all those responsible for the crimes committed.

After his arrival to Government in 2003, Néstor Kirchner (1950-2010) implemented measures to separate those responsible for those events from the Forces and annul laws that had allowed the culprits to avoid the corresponding sentences.

Since then, more than 500 ex-military and police officers have been prosecuted for crimes against humanity. Released in September of 2022, “Argentina 1985” won the prize of the International Federation of Cinematographic Press at the 79th Venice Festival and the recognition of the public in San Sebastián.

It was also shortlisted to represent this nation at the Oscars.