Buenos Aires Herald 
A Russian State Circus touring the country in the midst of the Cold War. The creator of Argentina’s most popular comic-book character Mafalda. The history of the coolest spot in Buenos Aires nightlife during the 1980s. The master gardener behind the city’s beautiful Japanese Garden. And the most famous natives of Patagonia: dinosaurs.
The Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (Bafici), kicked off on Tuesday and will run to April 13, screening 298 films from 44 countries. As usual, the festival program will also offer local documentaries that will give audiences a glimpse into some ordinary and extraordinary features of Argentine cultural identity. These are a few to watch out for.
Una vez, un circo
Director: Saula Benavente
2025
81 minutes
The Russian State Circus’ 1966 arrival in Argentina was unprecedented: for the first time, Soviet artists were crossing the Iron Curtain into Latin America with a spectacular show. Saula Benavente’s documentary goes through the history of the Moscow Circus in Argentina, from the height of the Cold War to the Soviet collapse in the 1990s, and delivers a remarkable selection of true stories — including circus artists trying to defect from the Soviet Union in the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires.
Una noche en Paladium
Director: Francisco Novick
2025
87 minutes
Paladium was the nightlife spot of 1980s Buenos Aires, where the queer movement, old tangueros and emerging Argentine rockers mingled. A cultural node where the avant-garde mixed with the mainstream — think TV celebrities and politicians alongside underground artists — Paladium is long gone. Director Francisco Novick, the son of one of its founders, tries to reconstruct its history with those who made the place legendary. Through their voices, the film brings back the unique ambience of the famous club, which is scheduled for a special one-time reopening the night of the film’s premiere.
Yo y la que fui
Director: Constanza Niscovolos
2025
69′ minutes
Adriana Lestido is an essential artist in Argentine photography, with a loving and committed perspective on issues like captivity and motherhood. Her work includes one of the most iconic images of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo from 1982. Her film Errante, a visual meditation set in the Arctic Circle, premiered in 2022 and is still playing at the Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA). Niscovolos’ portrait of Lestido is nurtured by their intimate friendship, transcending cold biographical data to become a moving picture of an exceptional artist.
El amo del jardín
Director: Fernando Krapp
2025
86 minutes
Yasuo Inomata, the most important landscape gardener in Argentina, was born in a village in northern Japan. He settled in Escobar, Buenos Aires province, in the 1960s. He is also the mastermind behind the beautiful Japanese gardens of Escobar and Palermo. When director Fernando Krapp asked him about the main characteristics of a Japanese garden, the master landscaper told him that if he wanted to understand them, he should travel to Japan. So he did. Through a great protagonist like Inomata, The Master of the Garden observes everything that is Japanese about Argentina. And vice versa.
Directors: Pablo Chehebar and Nicolás Iacouzzi
2025
97 minutes
Back in the 1990s a mechanic discovered the fossil of a huge carnivorous dinosaur, unleashing a war between scientists, city mayors and neighboring towns who fought to keep “the biggest dinosaur in the world.” This is the story of regional political disputes and paleontological tensions amid bone thefts, replicas and a man obsessed with creating Dinolandia way before the Jurassic Park craze. It all happened in El Chocón, a small town in Neuquén and the promised land of the Gigantosaurus.
Quinografía
Directors: Mariano Donoso and Federico Cardone
2025
75 minutes
With unreleased images and testimonies, the festival’s closing film explores the origins and inspirations of Argentine graphic artist Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón — better known as Quino, the creator of the world-renowned character Mafalda, and one of Argentina’s most popular artists. Quinography is a journey across the globe featuring interviews with international cultural icons and Quino himself. An exploration of the life of one of the most talented and sensitive Argentines. And a revelation of the biting, ironic, and sometimes naive humor of his entire body of work.
BAFICI tickets and venues
The Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival will run April 1 to 13 in venues across Buenos Aires. The festival’s headquarters will be the San Martín Theater, on Av. Corrientes 1530.
Tickets
General audiences: AR$3,000
Students and retirees: AR$2,000
There is a 50% discount with Banco Ciudad credit and debit cards
Tickets can be purchased online at bafici.org and in the San Martín Theater, Teatro Presidente Alvear (Av. Corrientes 1659), Cultural San Martín (Paraná 310), Cinépolis Plaza Houssay (Av. Córdoba 2135), Cinearte Cacodelphia (Roque Sáenz Peña 1150), and Espacio INCAA Cine Gaumont (Av. Rivadavia 1635).
Free screenings require reservation 48 hours prior, starting at 2 p.m., on bafici.org or at the festival’s ticket offices.
Admission to special activities is on a first-come, first-served basis and is subject to venue capacity.
