The life and work of César Pelli: the great Argentinian architect already has his documentary – 07/02/2019

Miguel Rodríguez Árias is a journalist, researcher, television producer, scriptwriter and filmmaker, and a graduate in psychology. Author of the famous documentaries "Las Patas de la Mentira" (1990), José Luis Cabezas (Prize of the King of Spain 1997) and Francisco de Buenos Aires (2015), Rodríguez Árias presents, among other famous works, his last performance on Saturday 9 at 8 pm on public television: "César Pelli, a young architect", A biography that summarizes Pelli's life from his childhood to today.

– How did you have the idea to make a documentary about the life of the young architect?

The idea came in 2001, having completed 35 biographies, including 30 for the "Unauthorized Biographies" cycle of America. The genre has attracted me for a long time because it allows to tell stories of people who think differently and put them into practice. On the other hand, it seemed strange to me that the most famous Argentine architect of all time, graduated from the Institute of Architecture of Tucumán, did not film any biography , unlike other architects of his stature, such as Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Louis Khan or Frank Lloyd Wright.

-How was the audiovisual material collected?

-The base of the documentary was two interviews with Pelli, one in Buenos Aires and another in his studio in New Haven in 2011. We also interviewed a partner of the studio, Axel Zemborain, two former collaborators and Javier Rivarola, of RTN, whose studio he designed with Diana Balmori, the old woman. from Pelli, the park that connects Bilbao's Guggenheim to the Ibardrola Tower and other notable architectural works. The archival documents (photos, renderings and documentation) were provided by the studio and personal photos, by Caesar himself.

-When does the story begin and how long did the shooting last from beginning to end?

-The story begins with Pelli's anecdotes when he was a child and tells important moments with his mother and brothers, until arriving at the present by browsing his international production and with a separate chapter devoted to work done in Argentina. The result is a 75 minutes documentary. Filming started in Buenos Aires in 2010. In the first few minutes, I was already realizing the potential of their responses for a biography. We have finished the edition in 2017.

The other important works of Rodriguez Arias are: "Maradona, love and hate" (1994), "Susana, the story of a woman" (Telefé 1998) and "The L & 39" image "(TVP 2018-2019).