|
Sergio Bizzio Argentina
|
|
Sergio Bizzio, born in Buenos Aires in 1956, is
a narrator, poet, dramatist, scriptwriter and screenwriter.
Author of a large oeuvre and considered ahead of his time, he has often been
hailed as one of Argentina’s best contemporary writers. The films based on his
books have
all won the most prestigious awards at the New York, Cannes and Tokyo
festivals.
Rabia (“Rage”) is a fast-paced
love story revealing the lives of the lower classes with psychological empathy
and a good dose of black humour. After a heated argument with his foreman, the
construction worker José María ends up strangling him
and flees to the palatial villa where his girlfriend Rosa works as a maid.
Hiding out in one of the attic, he watches the family. Then Rosa is raped…
Powerful prose and characters
Publishers
Weekly
A fast-paced and entrancing psychological thriller
Booklist
Without value judgement but with light irony, Bizzio reveals the ugly
secrets of a family, seen through the eyes of his naive squatter. The imagery
is often blinding and the dialogue pitch-perfect.
Le Temps
Era
el cielo (“It Was The Sky”) tells the story of a
faltering relationship. Only a few days after making up with her, a man watches his wife being raped. He remains undiscovered and
the two of them never utter a word on the matter. Caught up in the resulting
dynamics, the protagonist sleepwalks towards the edge of a psychological abyss,
only saved by his love for his son.
Era el cielo is a literary triumph that explores the
human condition ‘postcapitalism’ with a documentary-like rigour.
Rodolfo Fogwill,
Ñ
In Bizzio’s novel Realidad (“Reality”), an Arabic
terrorist commando hijacks an Argentine television channel in order to put
pressure on the government to hand over a traitor. The Afghan head of the intruders is fascinated by the dynamics of the
broadcasted reality show Big Brother and decides to use it to dismantle Western
values. Indeed, the candidates accept any form of humiliation in order to
become famous. As the hijackers are finally overwhelmed by the police, the
fictional existence of the contestants ends and they return to real life - or
is it the other way round?
A
great novel; at once intelligent and entertaining, accessible and reflective,
bright and funny. This is a novel that speaks about the
state of the modern world in a modern way.
La Nación
Written with the quiet
humour and the fresh and concise style that characterise Bizzio’s books, Aiwa tells a tender and unusual love
story in a world both bizarre and ordinary. When the teenagers Aiwa and Sony
meet, it is love at first sight, but they have to hide their relationship.
However, there are mysterious changes going on in Aiwa’s remote village, and
soon a group of scientists disturbs their quiet life. What will they find?
As a star author grows tired of his success, he uses a plane crash to
stage his death and starts a new life in the jungle. In his latest novel El
escritor comido (“The Eaten Writer”), Bizzio takes the reader on an unusual
and imaginative adventure while posing elementary questions on mankind today.
Borgestein tells the apparently
everyday story of a marriage crisis. Julia is an actress who only ever thinks
of her career. When her husband is attacked by one of his patients he withdraws
to a house in the mountains to think about his own life and their life
together. With typical absurd narrative moments and unexpected twists and
turns, the author has created a jewel of current Argentine writing.
Rights sold:
Novels:
El divino convertible, Buenos Aires: Catálogos Editora 1990, 239 p.
Infierno Albino,
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 1992, 169 p.
Son del Africa,
Mexico City and Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1993, 149 p.
Más allá del bien y lentamente,
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 1997, 214 p.
Planet,
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 1999, 239 p.
En esa época,
Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores 2001, 208 p.
Premio Emecé de Novela
Rabia,
Buenos Aires: Interzona 2004, 2011, 189 p.
Buenos Aires/Barcelona: Mondadori 2005
Premio Internacional de la
Diversidad
Film directed by Sebastián Cordero,
produced by Guillermo del Toro 2009, released in Latin America, France and New
York
Brazil: Record 2008 ● France: Bourgois
2008 ● Germany: DVA 2010 ● Israel: Simtaot • Italy: Donzelli
2009 ● Netherlands: Meulenhoff 2010 ●
Spain:
El Cobre 2004; Mondadori 2005; Nuevas Ediciones 2008 ●
UK
(world rights): Bitter Lemon Press 2009
El día feliz de
Charlie Feiling, Rosario: Editorial Beatriz Viterbo 2006, 128 p.
(with Daniel Guebel as co-author)
Era el cielo, Buenos Aires: Interzona 2007, 2011, 189 p.
Spain: Caballo de Troya 2009
Realidad,
Buenos Aires: Mondadori 2008, 224 p.
Bulgaria: ERA ● France: Bourgois ● Italy:
Edizioni E/0 2009 ● Spain:
Caballo de Troya 2009
Aiwa,
Buenos Aires: Mansalva 2009, 144 p.
(Adaptation with Pablo Tunica as Graphic Novel planned)
El escritor
comido
Buenos Aires: Mansalva 2010,
222 p.
Borgestein
Buenos Aires: Random House
Mondadori, forthcoming 2012
France: Bourgois
Short Stories:
Chicos,
Buenos Aires: Interzona 2004, 2012, 169 p.
Martín Fierro,
Madrid: 451 Editores 2008
Cinismo (published in “Chicos”)
Made into the film XXY, directed by Lucía Puenzo, produced
by Luis Puenzo and Wanda Vision. Five awards in Cannes 2007;
winner of the Goya Award
France: Magellan 2010
Un amor para toda la
vida
Buenos Aires: Mansalva 2011, 61 p.
Film released in 2011; director: Paula Hernández
Participation in anthologies:
La Argentina
cómo narración
Buenos
Aires: Fondo Nacional de
las Artes (FNA)
Essay:
El genio argentino,
Buenos Aires: Eloísa Cartonera 2004,15 p.
Poetry:
Gran salón con piano,
Ediciones Salido, 1985, 62 p.
Mínimo Figurado, Edición
Último Reino 1988, 41 p.; Tierra Baldía 1990
El abanico matamoscas,
Belleza y Felicidad 2000
Te desafío a correr como un idiota por el
jardín, Mansalva 2008 64 p.
Theatre:
Gravedad, 2003
Film rights
sold; Director: Ferando Spinner
El hospital de los podridos y otras
maravillas (version of Cervantes’ “Entremeses”), 1994
El Amor, 1996
Un Fausto criollo
(version of Estanislao del Campo’s “Fausto”), 1993
La china
(with Daniel Guebel as co-author), 1996, 2009
Filmography
Screen plays:
Adiós querida luna (based on the theatre piece Gravedad), 2005
El regreso de Peter Cascada, 2005
Chicos Ricos,
1999
Direction:
100 tragedias
(together with Mariano Galperín) 2008
Rey Queen (documentary), 2006
El disfraz, 2003
Animalada, 2001
No fumar es un vicio como cualquier
otro (to be released in 2010)