Aída Bortnik

Aída Bortnik (born 1938) is an Argentine screenwriter, nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the film "La historia oficial" (1985).

Career

After starting out as a TV-screenwriter in 1971, Bortnik co-wrote with débutant director Sergio Renán the screenplay for "The Truce" (1974), based on the eponymous novel by Mario Benedetti. It was the first Argentine film to be nominated for an Academy Award (the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film) in 1975, but lost out to Federico Fellini's "Amarcord". That year, Bortnik co-wrote "Una mujer", directed by Juan José Stagnaro.

After a three-year break, Bortnik worked one more time with Renán in writing a screenplay in 1977 for Haroldo Conti's novel, "Crecer de golpe". She then co-wrote "La isla" (1979) with director Alejandro Doria. During the 80s, Bortnik would collaborate with such mini-series as "Hombres en pugna", "Ruggero" and "Los gringos". In 1982, Bortnik took sole credit for the first time for David Lipszyc's "Volver".

In 1985 Bortnik co-wrote with writer-director Luis Puenzo a screenplay for a film about the Argentine Dirty War, which had recently ceased. The film denounced the atrocities of the military regime and made the brutal dictatorships known world-wide. It also reunited Héctor Alterio and Norma Aleandro in starring roles, both of whom had acted in "The Truce". The film won the Academy Awards in 1986, and earned Bortnik a nomination for "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen", shared with Puenzo. That year, Bortnik co-wrote "Pobre mariposa" with director Raúl de la Torre.

In 1989, Bortnik helped Puenzo write the screenplay for Carlos Fuentes' novel "Old Gringo". The film was a USA production, the first (and to date, last) foreign project in which Bortnik was involved. It starred Gregory Peck, Jane Fonda and Jimmy Smits.

During the 90s, Bortnik worked strictly with newcomer writer/director Marcelo Piñeyro, who had served as executive produced to " _es. La historia oficial". Bortnik helped Piñeyro write the screenplays for "" (1993), "Caballos salvajes" (1995) and "Cenizas del Paraíso" (1997), a loose trilogy that starred all three old colleague Héctor Alterio and Leonardo Sbaraglia.

Aída has since renewed her working relationship with Sergio Renán and co-written " _es. La soledad era esto" (2002). Her last work was as an occasional writer for the series " _es. Vientos de agua" (starring Alterio, his son Ernesto Alterio and Eduardo Blanco) in 2006. Bortnik is currently writing the screenplay for " _es. Azucena, 375 días", set to be released in 2008. The film is based on the life of Azucena Villaflor de Vicenti, a human rights activist who founded the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a group of Argentine mothers that fought against their country's military dictatorship during the Dirty War. This supposes her return to the Dirty War subject matter that earned her recognition.

Trivia

*She is credited with a "thanks" in "The Emperor's New Clothes".
*Has the notable distinction of having written the screenplay for both the first Argentine film nominated for an Academy Award ("The Truce", 1974) and the first Argentine film to win an Academy Award (" _es. La historia oficial", 1985).

External links

*imdb name|id=0097548|name=Aída Bortnik