WATCH AZOR
Watch Azor with code “UCLA” at: mubi.com/azorucla
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The assured debut from Swiss director Andreas Fontana, Azor (2021) invites us into the alluring world of the ultra-wealthy in early-1980s Argentina. With the country in the clutches of a military dictatorship, violence simmers just below the surface. Atmospheric and seductive, this sophisticated political thriller teems with exquisite scenery and ominous conversation.
Set in Buenos Aires, the film follows private banker Yvan (Fabrizio Rongione) as he arrives from Geneva with his wife Ines (Stéphanie Cléau) to replace a mysteriously missing colleague and placate their moneyed clientele. Moving through the smoke-filled lounges and lush gardens of a society under intense surveillance, Yvan finds himself untangling a sinister web of high finance and the country’s “Dirty War”.
A highlight from the Berlinale and New Directors / New Films Festival, Azor depicts the uneasy interplay between wealth and power. Written in collaboration with Argentine filmmaker Mariano Llinás (La Flor), this is a work of international intrigue worthy of John le Carré or Graham Greene.
Guest:
Andreas Fontana was born in Geneva. After completing his MA in Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva, he moved to Buenos Aires where he trained as a production assistant. He graduated with an M.A. in film production from the ECAL in Lausanne and the HEAD in Geneva. His first short film Cotonov Vanished (2009) won the First Steps prize at Vision du Réel in Nyon in 2010 and the prize for the best short film at the Festival dei Popoli in Florence in 2010. His last movie, PEDRO M, 1981 (2015), was nominated for the Swiss Film Award 2016 in the short films category.
Carmen Iriondo is a psychoanalyst, actress, writer, dancer, and singer-songwriter from Buenos Aires. She holds a degree in psychology from the Universidad Nacional del Mar del Plata. Her musical talent is evident in the albums Me da la gana (1994) and a newly released collection of jazz standards. She is the author of numerous books of prose and poetry, among them the memoir Memorias de una niña rehén (2009) and the poetry collections Los míos (2016) and Fantasmata (2016). Writing in Variety, Jay Weissberg, describes her performance as the viuda Lacrosteguy in Azor as “superb”.
MODERATORS
Zeke Trautenberg, Ph.D. – Spanish Educator at Geffen Academy at UCLA
Prof. Verónica Cortínez – Director, UCLA Center for Southern Cone Studies