Synopsis
Beatrice Portinari is not only the name of Dante Alighieri's muse, but also the pseudonym with which the writer, Aurora Venturini - a native of La Plata City -introduced herself in 2007 at the New Novel contest, organized by the newspaper Página 12, in which she obtained the grand prize for her work, “Las Primas”. Full of mischievousness and flair, vitality and mystery, with great character and lucidity, and having never stopped writing in her ninety-one years (and counting), she has lived a life completely immersed in the literature and life of the twentieth-century: she met, became friends and worked with Eva Peron in a juvenile detention center; in exile she spent time with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, among other writers and philosophers, and she received an award from Jorge Luis Borges, amidst other prizes.
For those unfamiliar with Aurora Venturini, this Documentary (during the making of which, its Directors were fired by Aurora herself) serves as an introduction to her world and her work. To her followers it will be, without a doubt, a great opportunity to meet this wonderful character.
Director's bio
Agustina Massa: Documentary filmmaker, born in 1988, Adrogué. In 2013 she premiered Beatriz Portinari, a documentary about Aurora Venturini with Fernando Krapp in the BAFICI National Competition. The film won the award for best documentary script of the year 2014 by ARGENTORES. In 2019 she premiered her second documentary film, TANYA, at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentine Competition. Currently, she is finishing writing her first novel, La Virgen de los Helados, and in the pre-production of her third long documentary My life goes wrong without you.
Fernando Krapp: (Adrogué, 1983) Filmmaker, journalist and writer. He studied Literature (UBA) and film script (ENERC). He collaborates with Radar, the Sunday supplement of Página 12 and works as a writer and independent producer. He directed the documentaries, Beatriz Portinari. A documentary about Aurora Venturini (2014, Argentores Award in co-direction with Agustina Massa) and El volcano adorado (2018). He published the storybook Dancing with the bears (2013) and the chronicle book An artificial island. Chronicles about Japanese in Argentina (Tusquets, 2019). He is a teacher at the National University of San Martín and in the artists' program of the Imaginary Project space.
