FIPRESCI Returns to the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival After 7-year Hiatus

THE FESTIVAL’S 40TH EDITION TO TAKE PLACE NOVEMBER 6–16, 2025

Buenos Aires, June 4, 2025 – After a seven-year absence, FIPRESCI—the International Federation of Film Critics—will return to the Mar del Plata International Film Festival for its 40th edition, to be held November 6–16, 2025.

FIPRESCI’s history with the festival dates back to its 1996 revival, following a 26-year pause caused by political turmoil in Argentina. That year, the FIPRESCI jury awarded My Generation by Italian director Wilma Labate and Buenos Aires, Viceversa by celebrated Argentine filmmaker Alejandro Agresti. Over the years, the FIPRESCI Prize at Mar del Plata has gone to a wide range of outstanding international films, including The Hips of J.W. (Portugal, 1997), La primera noche de mi vida (Spain, 1998), Sokkotanski (Greece, 1999), Conform Moderne (France, 2001), Santa Maradona (Italy, 2002), Facing the Truth (Denmark, 2003), Dealer (Netherlands, 2004), A Year Without Love (Argentina, 2005), and Alice (Portugal, 2006).

After a brief hiatus, FIPRESCI returned in 2009 to honor Vikingo by José Celestino Campusano, followed by The Ways of Wine by Nicolás Carreras (2010) and The Tiniest Place by Tatiana Huezo (2011). Following another pause, the organization rejoined the festival in 2016, awarding Balloons by Mariano González, Soldado by Manuel Abramovich in 2017, and Murder Me, Monster by Alejandro Fadel in 2018—the last FIPRESCI Prize awarded at the festival to date. In those three editions, the competition was limited to Argentine films.

The upcoming 2025 edition will mark the federation’s much-anticipated return. The FIPRESCI jury will include one member based in Argentina and two others from across South America. The decision was solidified in an informal meeting during the Cannes Film Festival between FIPRESCI President Ahmed Shawky and Gabriel Lerman and Jorge Stamadianos, Co-Artistic Directors of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. The names of the three critics who will serve on the jury will be announced closer to the festival. The FIPRESCI Prize will be among several non-official awards announced at the closing ceremony.

FIPRESCI recently celebrated its centennial during the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Since its first award in 1946, the organization has been a fixture at the world’s most prestigious festivals—including Berlin, Venice, Toronto, and San Sebastián—where it annually presents the FIPRESCI Grand Prix, voted on by members from over 50 countries to honor the best film of the previous year.

Mar del Plata remains the only Latin American film festival accredited by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) as a top-tier competitive event—alongside Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastián, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, and Tokyo. It has long served as a launching pad for emerging Argentine and Latin American filmmakers. During its early decades, the festival hosted luminaries such as Mary Pickford, Gina Lollobrigida, Errol Flynn, Paul Newman, Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anthony Perkins, Ugo Tognazzi, Alberto Sordi, Maria Callas, Cantinflas, Catherine Deneuve, François Truffaut, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Andrzej Wajda, Jacques Tati, Toshiro Mifune, Vincente Minnelli, Maximilian Schell, and Ettore Scola, among many others.After being suspended in 1970, the festival was relaunched in 1996 and quickly regained its prominence as a major cultural event and a vital platform for Argentine cinema with both national and international reach. Traditionally organized by Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA), the 40th edition will be jointly produced by INCAA and the Municipality of General Pueyrredón.

©FIPRESCI 2025