''The Amateur'' () is an Argentine film directed by Juan Bautista Stagnaro and shot in color. It is based on Stagnaro's own screenplay, which was adapted from the play of the same name by Mauricio Dayub. The film was released on April 22, 1999, and features Mauricio Dayub, Vando Villamil, Juan Verdaguer, and Cacho Espíndola in starring roles. Some of the scenes were filmed in the city of

Chascomús Chascomús is the principal city in Chascomús Partido in eastern Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, located south of the capital Buenos Aires. In 2001, the city had a population of 30,670. History The city was founded as a fort (the ''Fortí ...

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. The picture was nominated for five

Silver Condor The Argentine Film Critics Association () is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor de Plata'') honoring achievements in Argentine cinema. The aw ...

Awards. It is Juan Verdaguer's final film.

Synopsis

The film tells the tale of Pájaro, an unemployed man, and Lopecito, a factory worker, as they embark on an extraordinary mission to shatter the record for the longest duration spent cycling. Set on the fringes of a provincial town, Pájaro becomes resolute in his quest to secure a coveted spot in the esteemed

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

, pushing the limits of endurance atop his trusty bicycle. Assisted by his loyal companion, Lopecito, Pájaro tirelessly pedals around the fountain in the town square, bravely confronting numerous obstacles that stand in his way. Through this audacious endeavor, will áajaro find not only triumph in breaking a world record but also the unexpected blossoming of love and personal redemption?

Cast

Mauricio Dayub Mauricio may refer to: *Mauricio (given name) *Maurício José da Silveira Júnior (born 1988), Brazilian footballer known by the mononym Maurício *Maurício (footballer) Maurício is the Portuguese variant of Mauricio (given name). Sportspeople ...

as Alfonso "Pájaro" Romero *

Pedro Heredia Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Galician language, Galician name for ''Peter (given name), Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic fo ...

as Ramón *

Vando Villamil Vando Jorge Lopes Da Costa Neto (born 24 July 1992), simply known as Vando, is a São Toméan footballer who plays as a midfielder for UD Rei Amador and the São Tomé and Príncipe national team. International career Vando made his internatio ...

as Lopecito *

Arturo Goetz Arturo L. Goetz (24 June 1944 – 28 July 2014) was an Argentine film actor. He worked in the cinema of Argentina. He studied for a Doctor of Philosophy degree in economics at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1971 to 1974, and published his findings on ...

as Concejal *

Cacho Espíndola Cacho Espíndola (1940 – August 21, 2004) was an Argentine actor. He starred in the 1962 film ''Una Jaula no tiene secretos ''Una jaula no tiene secretos'' (''A Cage Has No Secrets'') is a 1962 Spanish-Argentine comedy film directed by Agustí ...

as Intendente * Alejandra Puy as La Mora *

Darío Grandinetti Darío Alejandro Grandinetti (born 5 March 1959) is an Argentine actor. He is known for his numerous roles in television, theater and film, where he participated in films by renowned directors such as Alejandro Doria, Pedro Almodóvar and Dami ...

as Funcionario municipal

Exhibition

The film premiered on April 22, 1999 and was released in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at the

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

at the Hispanic Film Festival. The film was produced by

Aleph Producciones S.A. Aleph Producciones S.A. is a film production company in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Aleph Producciones S.A.
at the Inter ...

and distributed by Transeuropa Video Entertainment on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amateur, The 1999 films Cycling films 1990s sports drama films Films based on Argentine novels Argentine independent films 1990s Spanish-language films Argentine sports drama films 1999 independent films 1999 drama films 1990s Argentine films Spanish-language sports drama films

Synopsis

Cast

Exhibition

See also

Footnotes

External links