Adolfo Aristarain

Adolfo Aristarain (October 19, 1943 – April 26, 2026) was an Argentine film director and screenwriter who is known of for his filmic sophistication and subtle examination of issues of political oppression. Variety deemed him "a master filmmaker."

Life and career Aristarain was born in Buenos Aires on October 19, 1943. After leaving Argentina, he started working as assistant director in the Arcente cinema, and then in Europe during his short exile for Mario Camus, Giorgio Stegani and Lewis Gilbert before returning to Argentina in 1974, following the death of Argentine president Juan Perón. His first three films did not receive favorable reviews, but in 1981 Tiempo de revancha received both critical acclaim and public success. Released in the midst of the so-called Dirty War when Argentina was ruled by a military junta, the film had strong political undercurrents but faced few problems from censors. As Aristarain would later explain, he initially included long, unnecessary sex scenes in the film, "so the censors took five days and questioned things—not politics or ideology but sex. All I had to do was cut a few frames at the end of some scenes, like one of a strip tease. It doesn't hurt the scenes—especially if you made them longer than they should have been."

Back in Spain he directed a mini-series for television, and after a series of aborted projects he had renewed success in Argentina: A Place in the World, starring Federico Luppi, with whom he has maintained frequent collaboration. He then filmed The Law of the Frontier and Martín (Hache) in Spain, also starring Luppi. Aristarain continued with his Argentine-Spanish mixture of actors in Common Ground and Roma.

Aristarain wrote all the scripts of his directed movies with the exception of the Columbia Pictures release The Stranger, which was written by American screenwriter Dan Gurskis.

He received numerous awards for his work, including the Golden Shell and an Academy Award nomination for A Place in the World, Best Director award at the Havana Film Festival, and Golden Seashell nomination for Martín (Hache), the First Prize at the Havana Film Festival and the Grand Prix des Amériques award at the Montréal World Film Festival for Tiempo de revancha.

The Academy Award Nomination was disqualified by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because the film was submitted for consideration (for Best Foreign Movie) by Uruguay (his wife's country) while The Academy claimed it was an Argentine production, and should therefore have been submitted by that country.

Aristarain worked many times with several, notable actors, such as Federico Luppi (seven times), Julio de Grazia (four times), Cecilia Roth (three times), Ricardo Darín (three times) and Ulises Dumont (twice). He held Spanish citizenship since 2003.

Aristarain died in Buenos Aires on April 26, 2026, at the age of 82.

Filmography La parte del león (1978) La playa del amor (1979) La discoteca del amor (1980) Tiempo de revancha (1981) Últimos días de la víctima (1982) The Stranger (1987) Un lugar en el mundo (1991) La Ley de la frontera (1995) Martín (hache) (1997) Lugares comunes (2002) Roma (2004)

Awards and nominations