Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts - Fotos , 1925-2009

(bulk 1970-2009)

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2022

Collection Overview

Title:	Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts - Fotos
Date range:	1925-2009, (1970-2009)
Creator:	Birri, Fernando
Extent:	17 Linear Feet
Abstract:	This collection contains the photographs, both personal and professional, created and collected by Argentinian filmmaker Fernando Birri during the course of his life and career. This is Subgroup 2 of the Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts. The other subgroups are Subgroup 1: Escritos, Subgroup 3: Audiovisual and Objects, and Subgroup 4: Pinturas.
Language of materials:	Spanish; Castilian
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	Ms.2010.050.fotos

Scope & content

This is Subgroup 2: Fotos and contains the photographs, both personal and professional, created and collected by Fernando Birri. Birri organized his files, photographs, documents, and films in broad categories. He created the system based on how he worked and the major projects that occupied his time. He was not always consistent in the way he applied the categories to items and many naturally belong to many different categories. He chose the one most applicable. To see all the materials related to a particular topic, film, or art project the researcher is advised to consult each of the 4 Subgroups. See the Arrangement page to get an overview of his classification scheme and links to each Subgroup. Subgroup 2: Fotos is divided into 15 Series based on Birri's classification system. The materials are arranged alphabetically within each Series. The series titles accurately describe the types of materials to be found within that series. For Series PH IV: Fotoglifos, the word Fotoglifo was created by Birri to describe the artwork in which he uses glyphs (glifos) of his own devising in various combinations. See also Subgroup 4: Pinturas, Series P2: Fotoglifos for more of this type of artwork.

• Series PH I: Personales
• Series PH I-A1: Personales: Primeros Planos Fernando Birri
• Series PH I-A2: Personales: Fernando Birri en Momentos Diversos
• Series PH I-B1: Personales: Fernando Birri con Personalidades Conocidas
• Series PH I-B2: Personales: Fernando Birri con Amigos y Familiares (Privadas)
• Series PH II-A1: Los Films: Fotos de Escena
• Series PH II-A2: Los Films: "si gira" (incluye "preparación" y "locaciones")
• Series PH II-B1: Los Films: Carteles, Tarjetas, Recortes
• Series PH III: Fernando Birri como Actor en Films de Otros
• Series PH IV: Fotoglifos
• Series PH V-A: La Escuelas: La Escuela Documental de Santa Fe
• Series PH V-B: La Escuelas: La Escuela de Tres Mundos (Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV)
• Series PH V-C: La Escuelas: Otras Escuelas y Grupos Creativos, Seminarios, Workshops
• Series PH VI: Teatro de Títeres "Retablillo de Maese Pedro"
• Series PH VII: Otros

Access Points

Subject Names

• Birri, Carmen

Subject Topics

• Motion pictures -- Study and teaching -- Argentina
• Motion pictures -- Study and teaching -- Cuba
• Art -- Exhibitions
• Motion picture industry

Document Types

• Film stills
• Photographs

Arrangement

The arrangement of the Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts follows the classification system created by Fernando Birri. It contains 4 Subgroups. This portion of his collection is Subgroup 2: Fotos.

To access the inventory for another Subgroup, click on the name below.

• Subgroup 1: Escritos
• Subgroup 2: Fotos
• Subgroup 3: Audiovisual and Objects
• Subgroup 4: Pinturas

Subgroup 2: Fotos is divided into 15 Series based on Birri's classification system. The materials are arranged alphabetically within each Series.

• Series PH I: Personales
• Series PH I-A1: Personales: Primeros Planos Fernando Birri
• Series PH I-A2: Personales: Fernando Birri en Momentos Diversos
• Series PH I-B1: Personales: Fernando Birri con Personalidades Conocidas
• Series PH I-B2: Personales: Fernando Birri con Amigos y Familiares (Privadas)
• Series PH II-A1: Los Films: Fotos de Escena
• Series PH II-A2: Los Films: "si gira" (incluye "preparación" y "locaciones")
• Series PH II-B1: Los Films: Carteles, Tarjetas, Recortes
• Series PH III: Fernando Birri como Actor en Films de Otros
• Series PH IV: Fotoglifos
• Series PH V-A: La Escuelas: La Escuela Documental de Santa Fe
• Series PH V-B: La Escuelas: La Escuela de Tres Mundos (Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV)
• Series PH V-C: La Escuelas: Otras Escuelas y Grupos Creativos, Seminarios, Workshops
• Series PH VI: Teatro de Títeres "Retablillo de Maese Pedro"
• Series PH VII: Otros

Biographical / Historical

Film director and theoretician Fernando Birri (Santa Fe, Argentina, 1925), who Colombian novelist and Nobel Prize recipient Gabriel García Márquez calls Gran papá del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, is one of the founders of the new Latin American film movement, often described as a form of revolutionary or Third Cinema.

Before entering the world of cinema, Birri worked in poetry, theater, and puppetry. In 1950 he traveled to Italy, the Birri family's native land, and studied filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia di Roma where he was greatly influenced by the style of the Italian Neorealists and in particular the work of Vittorio de Sica and Cesare Zavattini, for whom he worked as assistant director in his film Il tetto ("The Roof"). In 1951, he shot his first documentary film Selinunte in Sicily. Upon returning to Argentina in 1956, Birri was determined to create a national cinematic style based on a more realistic portrayal of the fringes of Argentine society. In his native Santa Fe he began teaching a class in experimental film that later evolved into a complete cinema school – the Instituto de Cinematografía de la Universidad del Litoral. There he filmed the documentary Tire dié (1954), and a neorealist feature film Los inundados (1961). Both films centered on the Argentine lower social classes and denounced their conditions. In the early 1960s, Birri was forced to flee Argentina due to his political views and controversial work. He lived in Brazil for a few months until the government fell under a similar military regime. He eventually ended up settling in Italy until the late 1970s when he returned to Latin America and resumed his teaching career in Mexico and Venezuela. In 1982 he founded the mobile poetic film school Laboratorio Ambulante de Poéticas Cinematográficas in the Universidad de los Andes in Venezuela. In 1984, he was elected honorary member of the Committee of Filmmakers of Latin America. In 1986, he co-founded, with Gabriel García Márquez, the Escuela de Cine y Televisión de Tres Mundos (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, near Havana, Cuba. In the same year he directed Mi hijo el Che ("My Son Che"), a film portrait based on an interview with Che Guevara's father, Don Ernesto Guevara Lynch. Two years later, in collaboration with García Márquez, he filmed Un señor muy viejo con unas alas muy grandes ("A Very Old Man with Very Large Wings"), which premiered in the United States at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 1995, Birri produced a documentary film for German television entitled Süden, Süden, Süden ("South, South, South"), followed in 1998 by El siglo del viento: un noticiero latinoamericano ("The Century of the Wind: A Newscast from Latin America"), a film based on Eduardo Galeanos's trilogy Memoria del fuego.

Birri continues his cinematic career in the 21st century. In 2007, he filmed a documentary entitled Elegía Friulana, homage to his grandfather, Giambatista, anarchist bricklayer, peasant and miller who left Italy in search of a better life in South America. He is presently working on a new feature film that will be shot on location in the pampa litoral region of Argentina — El Fausto criollo, an adaptation of the poem by Estanislao del Campo from 1856. He is also developing two new productions — Mal d'America, co-written with the famous Italian novelist Vasco Pratolini, and Gaucho Pampa, a mito-film (mythical film).

Fernando Birri has authored numerous books on film theory and poetry. He is also a prolific artist working in a wide range of media from pencils, watercolors, and collage to computer graphics. He is a founder of the Fundación del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano and a Member of Honor of its Executive Board. He was a Tinker Visiting Professor at Stanford University in 2001-2002, and a visiting professor at Tufts University in 2009. Birri has been and continues to be honored at numerous film festivals around the world. He is married to Carmen and has no children.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access for non-digital materials, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested. Advance notice is required to view born-digital records. Born-digital materials in this collection have not been reformatted yet. Researchers may request access to copies by contacting the John Hay Library with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. Access to original physical digital media is restricted.
Use of the materials:	Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Brown University Library. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts, Ms.2010.050, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	Gift of Fernando Birri in 2010.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Karen Eberhart.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-10-26.
Descriptive rules:	Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Additional Information

Alternative guide:

The arrangement of the Fernando Birri Archive of Multimedia Arts follows the classification system created by Fernando Birri. It contains 4 Subgroups. This portion of his collection is Subgroup 2: Fotos. To access the inventory for another Subgroup, click on the name below. Subgroup 1: Escritos Subgroup 2: Fotos Subgroup 3: Audiovisual and Objects Subgroup 4: Pinturas

Inventory

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