Alfonsina

by Christoph Kühn

Born and raised in Capriasca (Ticino) the female poet Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) is a legend in Argentina.

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DATA SHEET

Orginal title:

Alfonsina

Year:

2013

Length (min.):

80'

Original language:

Spanish

Subtitles:

English, French

Production:

Ventura Film

Co-Producers:

Rizoma S.r.l., RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera

Worlds sales:

Primer Plano Film Group SA

Distributors:

Filmcoopi Zürich AG

With the support of:

Bundesamt für Kultur (EDI), INCAA, Katon Zug, Repubblica e Canton Ticino, Kulturfonds Suissimage, FilmPlus della Svizzera italiana, Succès cinéma, Succès passage antenne SRG SSR, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, UBS Kulturstiftung, Città di Lugano, Comune di Capriasca

Facts & Figures:

World premiere, Nov. 2013 at 28. Mar del Plata Film Festival

Festivals
(selection):

49. Solothurner Filmtage, 2014
28° Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata, 2013

SYNOPSIS

Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) is a legend in Argentina. In the "Alfonsina y el Mar" (Alfonsina and the Sea) song created in the 1960s - and still being sung everywhere even nowadays - Alfonsina is celebrated as a heroine who plunges into the waters of the Atlantic with a heavenly blessing. The legend describing her as an intrepid feminist and the poet of scandalous verses, was born while she was still alive.

LOCATION

Lugano and surroundings

COLLECTIONS

Cinémathèque suisse

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CAST & CREW

Direction:

Christoph Kühn

Film script:

Christoph Kühn

Cast:

Bendita Berlín, Tania Diz, María Marta Guitart, Guillermo Storni, Mery Storni

Director of photography:

Ivan Gierasinchuk

Sound:

Federico Billordo

Editing:

Rosario Suarez , Valeria Racioppi

Sound editing:

Roberto Migone

Music:

Ezequiel Saralegui

Producers:

Elda Guidinetti, Andres Pfaeffli, Hernán Musaluppi, Natacha Cervi, Silvana Bezzola Rigolini

HIGHLIGHTS

Born in Zug, director of several renowned documentaries, director Christoph Kühn took an interest in one of Ticino's most famous female characters, the poet Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938), who was born and raised in Capriasca, near Lugano, where her father produced "Birra delle Alpi". As a teenager, she wrote poetry and flirted with anarchist ideas. Like many in the region, her family emigrated to Argentina. There, little by little, the young woman became part of the literary world of Buenos Aires. Almost always the only woman in a world of men. Alfonsina Storni quickly became an almost legendary figure, an intrepid feminist, an avant-garde journalist, a poet whose verses were considered scandalous, a woman who also dared to be a single mother in a male chauvinist and soon to be dictatorial country. She became friends with the Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga, who committed suicide in 1937. The following year, stricken with breast cancer, she threw herself into the sea at Mar del Plata. Her death prompted the pianist Ariel Ramírez and the writer Félix Luna to write the famous song Alfonsina y el mar, created by Mercedes Sosa in 1969 in the album Mujeres argentinas and still sung everywhere today. In this song the artist is celebrated as a heroine throwing herself into the waters of the Atlantic. The film had its world premiere at the Mar del Plata Festival.

Frédéric Maire, Director Cinémathèque Suisse

Alfonsina

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