Sebastián Borensztein (born 22 April 1963) is an Argentine screenwriter and film director, best known for the films ''

Chinese Take-Away ''Chinese Take-Away'' ( es, Un cuento chino) is a 2011 Argentine comedy-drama film written and directed by Sebastián Borensztein. The film was the highest grossing non-US film in Argentina in 2011. Plot Roberto is a veteran who is characteris ...

'' (2011), ''

Heroic Losers ''Heroic Losers'' ( es, La odisea de los giles) is a 2019 Argentine heist film co-written and directed by Sebastián Borensztein, based on the novel ''La noche de la Usina'' (''The Night of the Heroic Losers'') by Eduardo Sacheri, who also co-wr ...

'' (2019) and the horror television miniseries '' El garante'' (1997).

Early life and education

Sebastián Borensztein was born on 22 April 1963 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

, the son of comedian Tato Bores and Berta Szpindler. He first studied Communication Sciences at the Universidad del Salvador, but after graduating decided to turn to the performing arts, and studied film directing at the Augusto Fernández school.

Career

During the 1980s he worked in advertising, but under the guidance of his father, started

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, deve ...

. He wrote, directed and also acted as

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

for his father's work, for which he earned several awards.

Television

Borensztein started out by writing for television. His first series, a

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

miniseries entitled '' El garante'' (1997, "The Guarantor") won many awards, including four Martín Fierro Awards, and was a finalist for the

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

. He made the highly acclaimed series ''Tiempo final'' (2000–2002), later remade by

Fox Telecolombia TIS S.A. (also known as The Independent Studios and formerly known as Fox Telecolombia and TeleColombia S.A.) is a major Colombian television production company in Spanish, founded in 1995 as the ''programadora'' Producciones Bernardo Romero ...

in 2007–9, also named '' Tiempo final''.

Films

Borensztein's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

was ''La suerte está echada'' ("The die is cast"), in 2005, which won several international awards. In 2007, he partnered with American independent filmmaker Benjamin Odell, with whom he co-wrote his second film, ''Sin Memoria'', released in Mexico in 2011. His third film, released in 2011, was the highly successful ''

'' (''Un Cuento Chino''). In 2019 ''

'' (''La odisea de los giles'') was released. It screened at the 2020 New Zealand International Film Festival in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, as well as at the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

and San Sebastián Film Festivals.

Recognition

* Ondas Award for best Spanish-language TV show, awarded by the Spanish SER network * Konex Award (2000), one of the best five Argentine directors of the decade * Martín Fierro Awards (several) *December 2019: An "outstanding cultural personality" by the Honorable Deliberating Council of the

City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Personal life

Borensztein was married to actress Paula Siero from 1994 to 1999. Filmmaker Alejandro Borensztein is his brother, and actress Marina Borensztein his sister.

References

External links

* *
''La Nacion'', articles about Borensztein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borensztein, Sebastian 1963 births Argentine television directors Argentine television writers Jewish Argentine writers Writers from Buenos Aires Living people