Mario Soffici (1900-1977), director de cine argentino nacido en Italia, de donde emigró en 1909 con su familia. Inicialmente dedicado al teatro, entra en el cine como actor.

En 1935 debuta como director con El alma del bandoneón, donde ya se perfilan los rasgos de su estilo costumbrista, que lo convertirían en uno de los más claros representantes del cine argentino nacionalista de posguerra. En esta línea dirige La barra mendocina (1935) y Cadetes de San Martín (1937), gran éxito de público sobre la base de un convencionalismo no exento de irrealidad. Contrastan, por su mayor veracidad, las posteriores Viento norte (1937) o Prisioneros de la tierra (1939), melodrama con tono de denuncia política sobre una revuelta en una plantación de mate.  Realizada en un tono más ajustado a la realidad histórica y social del país, fue muy aplaudida por la intelectualidad argentina encabezada por Jorge Luis Borges. Este aumento de intensidad culmina en Tres hombres del río (1943), su película más notable. Tras ellas continúa una amplia filmografía que se extiende hasta Propiedad (1961).

Mario Soffici (1900-1977) is an Argentine writer born in Italy, from where he emigrated with his family in 1909. Initially he was dedicated to the theater but then he starts working in cinema as an actor.

In 1935 he debuted as a director with El alma del bandoneón, which already outlined the features of his style of manners. He became one of the clearest representatives of nationalist postwar Argentine cinema. In this line he directs La barra mendocina (1935) and Cadetes de San Martín (1937), a great box-office hit. A greater accuracy is reached in the subsequent Viento norte (1937) and Prisioneros de la tierra (1939), melodramatic tone of political denunciation on a revolt in a mate plantation. Made in a way more adjusted to the social and historical reality of the country, it was widely praised by intellectuals in Argentina such as Jorge Luis Borges.

This increase in intensity culminates with Tres hombres del río (1943), his most notable film. His broad filmography extends to Propiedad (1961).
 
6. Miguel Mirra
(Argentina, 1950)

Miguel Mirra was born in Lanús, Buenos Aires. He is a director, scriptwriter and producer who has been devoted to anthropological cinema and is one of Argentina's most respected filmmakers. He studied History at the Faculty of Arts (University of Buenos Aires) and Anthropology at San Marcos University in Lima (Peru). He also studied Cinema at the Avellaneda Film Institute (Argentina).

After making a number of audiovisual works on the people and landscapes of the Argentine countryside, Mirra debuted in direction with the short film Entre casa (1982). Then he shot the medium length film Sin confirmación (1983) and, after this, the feature film La máscara de la conquista (1985). In 1987 he made the film Hombres de barro. Then he worked for the Bolivian television, where he made the miniseries Laberinto (1989) and later he directed the movie Después del último tren (1991).

In addition to the coordination of filmmaking workshops at the major universities of Argentina and the teaching at several schools and institutes of cinema, he directs the National Festival of Documentary Film and Video that takes place in Argentina. He also directs the International Festival Tres Continentes del Documental, Asia, África y América Latina, which first edition took place in Buenos Aires in 2002, and the following were made in South Africa (2003 and 2006), India (2004), and Venezuela (2005 and 2007). He is the author of numerous essays on the genre, among them: Los documentalistas y los nuevos movimientos sociales (which is included in the book Documental en movimiento: Teoría, metodología y práctica del Movimiento de Documentalistas) and El reto de los Documentalistas selected and published by the Competition Pensar a Contracorriente. He works as Coordinator of the Documentary Makers Movement and as Director of his own Center for Documentary Training and Research. He is the director of the 22-TVLibre Channel of Buenos Aires. He was a member of the jury of the 2008 Association of Cable Television Argentina Documentary Awards. He won the San Luis Film Contest 2008 with his feature film script El amor y la peste. In 2009, the Nuestra América publishing company in Buenos Aires published the book Guiones Cinematográficos by Miguel Mirra.