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El juicio

The Trial
Forum 2023
© Memoria Abierta
1985 is an important year in Argentina’s recent history. In April of that year, nine high-ranking representatives of the military dictatorship (1976 to 1983) were put on trial, on charges including unlawful detention, torture and murder. The verdicts were announced in December.
While Santiago Mitre created a feature film (Argentina 1985) out of the trial, Ulises de la Orden hews closely to the source material, crafting a nearly three-hour-long documentary – El juicio – out of video footage from the courtroom. After viewing more than 500 hours of material, the director condensed and structured it into this artful, spiralling montage. The more witnesses the film allows to have their say, the more irrefutable it becomes that the men in the dock are responsible for acts for which the term “state terror” is too mild, regardless of how unassailable they consider themselves to be. In the end, prosecutor Julio Strassera calls the trial a “descent” – to a place “where the misery, depravity and horror reach a depth that one couldn’t have imagined beforehand, and afterward can barely comprehend.” El juicio is a film upon which the power to imagine and to comprehend depends.
by Ulises de la Orden Argentina / Italy / France / Norway 2023 Spanish, English, French 177’ Colour Documentary Form

Crew

Director Ulises de la Orden
Screenplay Ulises de la Orden
Cinematography Pablo Parra
Editing Alberto Ponce
Sound Design Gerardo Kalmar
Sound Ambolt Audio, Mathieu Deniau
Production Manager Gisela Peláez
Producer Ulises de la Orden
Executive Producer Ulises de la Orden
Co-Producers Alessandro Borrelli, Richard Copans, Dag Hoel
Co-Production La Sarraz Pictures Turin, Italien
Les Films d'Ici Paris, Frankreich
Dag Hoel Filmproduksjon Trondheim, Norwegen

Produced by

Polo Sur Cine

Photos

Ulises de la Orden

© Valeria Fiorini

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1970, he studied film. Alongside his work as an author, producer and director, he also teaches film direction. El juicio is his tenth film.

Filmography

2004 Rio Arriba (Up Stream); 72 min. 2011 Tierra Adentro (Inland); 103 min. 2013 Desierto Verde (Green Desert); 86 min. 2015 Mujer Entera (Whole Woman); 69 min. 2018 Chaco; 80 min. 2019 Nueva Mente (New Mind); 83 min. · Amanecer en mi Tierra (Down on My Land); 83 min. · Marea y Viento (Tide and Wind); 69 min. 2020 Vilca, la magia del silencio (Vilca, the Magic of Silence); 101 min. 2023 El juicio (The Trial); 177 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023