Although El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes) – a film with big names and a bigger budget estimated at US$2m – returned Argentine cinema to the spotlight after snapping up the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2010, the local industry is alive and kicking thanks to hundreds of independent filmmakers who are waiting for their moment to shine like an anxious extra.

Argentina also hosts the annual Mar del Plata international film festival – an A-grade affair that jostles with the big boys from Berlin, Cannes, and Cairo – which has been taking place since 1954: a sure indication that the country has long had a romance with cinema.

Despite the short-lived glamour and obvious boost that awards bring, Argentina offers an ideal platform to see local and regional films made on a shoestring at the Buenos Aires Independent and International Film Festival (Bafici).

You can check out the rest of Big screen dreams in the March 2011 issue of Oryx.