One of the most widely-cited and significant films in New Argentine Film, a movement that emerged in the late '90s to refresh that country's filmmaking.
The film's title alludes to the city of San Nicolás, the economy of which once depended on a state-owned steel company that closed down and which, after alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary beginning in 1983, became a religious site drawing throngs of people in search of faith. Bellande’s recording give voice to nearly everyone involved and shows, whilst trying to understand, what faith produces, as well as, in the end, the transformation of a once-thriving city into one that has apparently and literally fallen into the hands of a miracle.
Cecilia Barrionuevo
Artistic Director of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival
Marcelo Alderete
Film Curator of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival
- IDFA (2001)
- BAFICI (2002)
- Festival Internacional de Cine de Locarno (2002)
- Cinéma du Réel (2002)
Having studied at the Universidad del Cine, he worked as a sound engineer on several feature films (Pizza, Birra, Faso, Bonanza, Esperando al mesías) and did the music on the television series Okupas by Bruno Stagnaro. Between 1997 and 2001, he directed Ciudad de María, his first film, winner of the Argentine Competition at the 2002 BAFICI and selected to the official competition of the 2001 IDFA (Amsterdam) and to the festivals of Locarno, Vancouver, Stockholm, La Havana, Barcelona, and others. In 2002, he made the short film Octavo piso (short film competition at the 2003 BAFICI). Between 2003 and 2004, he directed Camisea, a feature-length documentary that participated out of competition in the Argentina Section of the 2005 BAFICI and 2005 IDFA. In 2007 he directed Apuntes sobre las grietas, a medium-length film belonging to the Fronteras Argentinas series, produced by Canal Encuentro and the National Secretariat of Culture. In 2009 he was executive producer of Una historia del Trash Rococó, a feature-length documentary by Miguel Mitlag that premiered at the 2009 BAFICI. He is currently completing La indómita luz, his newest feature documentary.