Cromer Film Festival - Tango Crazy

Event Information

In 1930, in the Federico Valle Studios, Eduardo Morera, an actor turned director, filmed several short films, each corresponding to a song. Argentine cinema with sound was born with acclaimed Tango star Carlos Gardel. The shorts premiered in select theatres and were shown to complement Hollywood films. After Gardel’s death, ten of these shorts were compiled into the Argentine film Así Cantaba Carlos Gardel (This is How Carlos Gardel Sang).

When Gardel died unexpectedly in June 1935, his last two films, shot in the United States, El Día Que me Quieras and Tango Bar, had not premiered in Buenos Aires. Given the shock of his death, these final premieres became highly emotional events, coinciding with the return of his entire filmography to Argentine screens.

These films were screened in Argentine and Latin American cinemas for decades, but over time, the copies deteriorated. Guillermo Fernández Jurado, president and driving force behind the Argentine Film Archive, acquired and collected the films, including some original 35mm negatives as well as 16mm prints held by collectors and thanks to the Buenos Aires City Cultural Promotion programme, Mecenazgo, and the support of Banco Santander-Río, the following films were restored: Así Cantaba Carlos Gardel, Cuesta Abajo, Tango Bar, Melodía de Arrabal, El Tango en Broadway, El Día Que me Quieras, and the documentaries El Tango en el Cine and Gardel el Alma Que Canta.

The new 4K versions, which will be screened for the first time in this programme, will allow us to present these almost mythical films to fans of all ages. Carlos Gardel, icon of Buenos Aires, will finally receive the tribute that cinema owes him.

The Restoration - by Marcela Cassinelli, President of the Argentine Film Archive Foundation:
“The restoration process was long and complex due to the age and condition of the material. For years, our institution dreamed of this project; finally, in 2016, we began working at the Argentine laboratories Cinecolor and Gotika. With the aim of presenting them in film archives around the world, with English and French subtitles. We hope that after seeing and discovering Carlos Gardel's films in all their splendour, we can say: Gardel sings better every day!”

Also being screened are the tango films by acclaimed director Jana Bokava, Tango Mio, a touching and perceptive voyage of discovery through the streets and bars of Buenos Aires and Tango Salon - Confiteria Ideal, where an atmosphere of eternal romance, haunted by the melodies of the old 1920s orchestras, and the dreams of poets who were reinventing the world at their tables… the Argentinians' soul reminds us of this talent to survive, that renders milongueros indestructible in their nostalgia and timelessness.