Dir: Néstor Frenkel. Argentina 2011. 76 mins
A dentist by trade, Jorge Mario has lots of hobbies but one real passion: cinema. Making dozens of home movies, he has gone on to create thrillers, documentaries and westerns on Super 8. Now 70, he wants to re-make his magnum opus, the Super 8 revenge western ‘Winchester Martin’. Struggling to find a cast, he co-opts his patients and localbutcher into becoming celluloid bandits, never losing his joy for making movies. Though the idea of non-professionalism can (sometimes) carry negative connotations in our culture, an amateur - deriving from the Latin for love - is someone who loves what they do and Jorge Mario has infectious passion aplenty. AMATEUR is a warm, affectionate documentary and a homage to a disappearing popular cinephilia.
