Five highlights of recent Argentine independent cinema have been picked up by Warner Bros. Discovery and will soon be available for Latin American viewers on streaming platform Max. 

The films include Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen, an international award winner which was recently chosen as the Best Film of 2023 by French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema. The roster also includes María Zanetti’s coming of age story Alemania, a local underdog that premiered in Argentina last April and remained in theaters for more than 13 weeks, selling more than 15,000 tickets. 

The purchase was announced by local distributor Cinetren, which sold streaming rights to three other Argentine films, including Martin Shanly’s Arturo at 30 and Benjamin Naishtat’s Rojo, a winner of the Best Director and Best Actor awards at San Sebastian Film Festival in 2018.

According to Cinetren director Manuel García, it’s rare for platforms like Max to acquire Argentine independent cinema, or films that weren’t originally produced or distributed by Warner. “Now they’re doing it with auteur, high quality films like Trenque Lauquen, Alemania and Rojo, allowing audiences all over the continent to access some of the finest Argentine cinema in recent years,“ he told the Herald. 

“The fact that this has happened in the midst of a smear campaign against our national cinema, which has so much history and recognition, doubles our joy,” he adds. 

Javier Milei’s administration has recently targeted Argentina’s National Film Institute as part of his inflammatory rhetoric about cuts in public spending. Milei’s director for the INCAA national film institute, economist Carlos Pirovano, conducted massive layoffs earlier this year. He also restructured the institute, significantly reducing its financial support for film production, which was a backbone of Argentina’s cinema industry.