Damián Szifron (Argentine Spanish: [daˈmjan siˈfɾon]; born 9 July 1975) is an Argentine film and television director and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the TV series Los simuladores (2002),[1] the most successful TV series in the history of Argentina, and writer-director of Wild Tales (2014), the most successful film in the history of Argentina.[2] On 18 March 2022, Paramount announced a film based on Los simuladores, directed by Szifron, programmed for 2024.

Damián Szifron
Szifron in 2014
Born (1975-07-09) 9 July 1975 (age 49)
Ramos Mejía, Argentina
Occupations
  • Director
  • screenwriter
Years active1992–present
SpouseMaría Marull

Biography

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Born to a Jewish family,[3] Szifron studied cinema with the film theory writer Angel Faretta. Szifron was the writer and director of Hermanos y detectives ("Brothers and Detectives"), the follow-up series to the hugely popular Los simuladores ("The Pretenders"). His 2014 film Wild Tales was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival,[4] nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards and winner of both the BAFTA and Goya awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor Notes
2003 El fondo del mar Yes Yes No No
2005 Tiempo de valientes Yes Yes No No
2014 Relatos salvajes Yes Yes No Yes
2023 To Catch a Killer Yes Yes Yes Yes
2024 Los simuladores Yes Yes Yes TBA Pre-production
Based on his TV show Los simuladores

Short films

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Year Title Director Writer Editor Notes
1992 El tren Yes Yes No
1993 Río de culpas Yes Yes No
1995 Oídos sordos Yes Yes No Co-directed with Esteban Student
1997 Kan, el trueno Yes Yes Yes
1998 Punto muerto Yes Yes No Co-directed with Esteban Student
1999 Los últimos días Yes Yes No Medium-length film

Television

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Year Title Director Writer Editor Notes
1996-1999 Atorrantes No No Yes Also producer
1999 PNP No No Yes
2002-2003 Los simuladores Yes Yes Yes Also creator
2006 Hermanos y detectives Yes Yes Yes TV Miniseries

References

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  1. ^ Damián Szifron at IMDb
  2. ^ "Wild Tales", the most watched film Archived 2018-03-24 at the Wayback Machine La Nación (in Spanish)
  3. ^ The Jewish Journal: "Argentina’s very Jewish Oscar nominee" by Diego Melamed Archived 2016-11-17 at the Wayback Machine January 21, 2015
  4. ^ "2014 Official Selection". Cannes. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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