Marcelo Piñeyro

Biography

Marcelo Piñeyro (born in Buenos Aires, March 5, 1953) is an Argentine director and screenwriter whose work is among the most successful in Spanish-language cinema. Over his career he has moved between directing, writing and producing, and his films have found audiences both in Argentina and in Spain.

He studied film at the National University of La Plata. In 1980 he co-founded the production company Cinemania with Luis Puenzo. As executive producer of The Official Story (1985), he came to wider attention; the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He made his directing debut with Tango Feroz (1993), followed by Wild Horses (1995), which became the second most-attended film in Argentina, and Ashes of Paradise (1997). Many of his scripts were written with Aída Bortnik and Marcelo Figueras. Burnt Money (2000) and Kamchatka (2002) brought him international attention, and The Method (2005) earned him Goya Awards. He later directed The Widows of Thursdays (2009) and Ismael (2013), and worked on the series El reino, written by Claudia Piñeiro.

He is a founding member of the Academy of Arts and Film Sciences of Argentina. His work, which often engages with his country's recent history and with characters on the margins, remains a reference point for Spanish-language cinema.

Key films

• The Official Story (1985): executive producer of the drama about stolen children during Argentina's military dictatorship, which won the Oscar.
• Wild Horses (1995): his second feature as director, a box-office success in Argentina.
• Ashes of Paradise (1997): a rural thriller that was a major hit at home and won international awards.
• Burnt Money (2000): a crime thriller based on a real robbery, popular in Argentina and Uruguay.
• Kamchatka (2002): a drama about the dictatorship seen through a child's eyes, selected as Argentina's Oscar entry.
• The Method (2005): an office thriller that earned Goya Awards, including one for its screenplay.