Borges Film – Los libros y la noche

Los libros y la noche
The Books and the Night

1999, Argentina and Spain, 82 min.

Directed by Tristán Bauer.
Screenwriting by Tristán Bauer and Carolina Scaglione.
Music by Frederíco Bonasso.
Cinematography by Javier Julia & Alejandro Fernando Moujan.

Cast

Walter Santa Ana – Jorge Luis Borges
Lorenzo Quinteros – Bookseller
Héctor Alterio – Man from the Future
Leonardo Sbaraglia – Young Borges

Comments

Nadie rebaje a lágrima o reproche
esta declaración de la maestría
de Dios, que con magnífica ironía
me dio a la vez los libros y la noche.
—Jorge Luis Borges, “Poema de los dones”

Described as a “documentary fiction,” Los libros y la noche blends fact and fiction to tell the story of Jorge Luis Borges. Produced for the Borges Centennial, the film was awarded the Grand Coral First Prize at the Havana Film Festival.

Producer’s Description: The film passes from a documentary approach to a fictional treatment, providing an insight into the life and work of one of the greatest writers of the Spanish language: Jorge Luis Borges. The film’s texture is a juxtaposition of archive documents and the fascinating labyrinthine world of libraries and books. Walter Santa Ana incarnates the character created by the Argentinean writer, which is no other than Borges himself. To celebrate the one hundred years of Jose Luis Borges’ birth, Tristán Bauer has achieved a documentary film in which archive documents, interviews and photos recall the most significant moments in the writer’s life, from his political position and disappointments with the Perón regime, to his international success. Tristán Bauer does not limit his work to an historical approach, but creates a subtle and sober reconstruction of the writer’s world: the infinite wells of the strange Library of Babel, multiple corridors, circles, mirrors, staircases and hexagons. In his encounter with Borges’ world and fiction, he succeeds in evoking the atmosphere of his poetry and tales, his literary and metaphysical obsessions.

Additional Information

Los libros y la noche
You can watch the entire film on YouTube. [Spanish with English subtitles]

Trigon Films Page
You can order a DVD of Los libros y la noche from Trigon Films.

Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 28 August 2024
Borges Film Page: Borges & Film
Main Borges Page: The Garden of Forking Paths
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com