Burnt Oranges is an award-winning pioneering documentary. It is the first of its kind – created by a woman in exile from her native country, Argentina – who returns to re-map thirty years of obscured history. Through an innovative interweaving of poetic personal narrative and documentary genres, the film confronts a painful past as well as affirms the strength of human perseverance for human rights and justice.

Director Silvia Malagrino examines the long-term effects and repercussions of Argentina's 1970s state terrorism through a combination of intimate witness narration, interviews, documentary and re-created footage. The narration is based on factual letters written by the director Silvia Malagrino and writer Monica Flores Correa, both friends who fled the country at different times.

Revealing the current vibrating life in Buenos Aires through the eyes of a long-gone native, the film also records and uncovers compelling testimonies of resistance, transformation, and hope. Burnt Oranges reminds us of the global necessity to defend human rights and democratic values.

Fundamental to the film are the voices of members of Argentine human rights organizations:  Mothers of the Disappeared, Grandmothers of the Disappeared, Sons and Daughters of the Disappeared (HIJOS), and also governmental figures of the 1976-83 military dictatorship who explain their position. Other witnesses include Bob Cox - the former chief editor of the daily Buenos Aires Herald, and Alicia Partnoy – a poet and a survivor of torture in a detention center, both currently living in the U.S. 

Together, these voices contribute to our understanding of core questions of human action, the potential for creation and destruction, and the necessity of accountability.

© 2005. Silvia Malagrino. All rights reserved