Narcisa Hirsch, In Memoriam (1928-2024)

Before her death earlier this year, Narcisa Hirsch spent six decades at the cutting edge of filmmaking in Argentina. Hirsch, who was born in Berlin and moved to Argentina as a child started her career as a painter. In the 1960s she began organizing a series of happenings alongside fellow artists Marie Louise Alemann, Walter Mejía, and Marta Minujin. In documenting these activities in Buenos Aires and New York, Hirsch encountered some of the leading figures in avant-garde filmmaking. She continued to use small gauge (8mm and 16mm) film to create poetic films that incorporated themes of myth, sexuality, dreams, and the everyday. Hirsch along with similar minded young filmmakers such as Alemann, Claudio Caldini and Horacio Vallereggio operated outside of the mainstream and remained virtually unknown outside of Argentina for most of her life. Finally, her work is getting the attention is deserves thanks to the Filmoteca Narcisa Hirsch,…