Mario
Piazza
Born in New
York city on September 23rd, 1956, Mario Piazza has lived in
Rosario, Argentina, since he was ten months old. In 1973, he
obtained first place in a national mathematical competition (the
Argentina Mathematical Olympics) and then he studied the
first three years of Electronic Engineering, abandoning it
later for the cinema. In 1974 he began to carry out his own
films in Super 8 format.
He organized numerous screenings of independent cinema and
published five issues of the specialized underground magazine
"El Superochista" (The Supereightist).
His film "Dream for a clerk" (Sueño
para un oficinista, 1978) was shown at several theaters in
the country, as part of the concerts for rock group Irreal,
who had composed the sound track for the film and performed
it live during the projections. The film received laudatory
comments in the music sections of juvenile magazines.
In 1980 he was invited by the Goethe Institute Buenos Aires
to participate in the Seminar of Experimental Cinema run by
German filmmaker Werner Nekes. In 1981 and 1984 he was
invited to present Argentinean programs at the Super 8 film
festivals of Montreal, Caracas, Cali, Barcelona, Lisbon, Ann
Arbor and Brussels. In this last one he also acted as a juror.
His film "Papa Gringo" (1983)
obtained six main prizes in international Super 8 film
festivals and it was aired by French TV chain Antenne 2. He
has worked for the Provincial School of Cinema and TV in
Rosario since its foundation, in 1984, and he currently works
in its Center of Documentation. He has worked since 1976 at
making medical and surgical documentaries. He was Director
for the Municipal Competitions of Cinema (1987 and 1988)
sponsored by the Subsecretaría of Culture for Rosario's
Municipality. He was President of the Jury of Rosario's Latin
American Video Festival for its first five editions, in 1993,
1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998. He was also a juror for the Santa
Fe Film Contest, in 1985 and 1995, for the National
Competition of Cipoletti, in 1984, and for Villa Gesell's
Argentinean Days of Independent Cinema and Video, in 1996.
"Ms. Olga's School" (La Escuela de
la Señorita Olga, 1991) is his first 16mm film. The film has
had more than 200 special screenings, in some 60 Argentinean
towns, and has obtained five national and three international
prizes. Since its screening and prize at the Havana Festival,
the film has been distributed to all the pedagogic
universities of Cuba. The video edition of the film has sold
more than 4000 copies.
"Cachilo, the poet of the walls"
is his first video.
He is a founder member of the
collective Espacio Mirada Documental and of ADOC,
Documentarians Association of Argentina.
During 2001 he conducted el First Workshop of Documentary
Production for the Centro Audiovisual Rosario, in which six
documentary shorts were produced.
The Documentarians Meeting of the 8th Latinamerican Video
Festival of Rosario devoted to him a retrospective and an
homage, in September 2001.
His project "Mothers on Wheels"
has won main
prize at the 2002 Doc BsAs Workshop, organized by Cine Ojo
and the Embassy of France in Argentina.
(Partial) Filmography as Director
"Sueño para un
oficinista" ("Dream for a clerk",
1978) - Super 8, fiction, 20 min.
"A bordo de un carrito" ("On board a Wheelchair",
1981) - Super 8, documentary, 30 min.
"Papá Gringo" ("Papa Gringo", 1983)
- Super 8, documentary, 22 min.
"La Escuela de la Señorita
Olga"
("Ms. Olga's School", 1991) - 16mm, documentary, 50
min.
"Cachilo, el poeta de los
muros"
("Cachilo, the poet of the walls" , 1999/2000)
Video, documentary, 60 min.
Mario Piazza
Pje, Cajaraville 165, 6º A, 2000 Rosario, Argentina
tel. 54-341-424.4941 / fax: 54-341-447.9874
mariopiazza
http://rosariarte.com.ar/cachilo/piazza.htm