Luis Puenzo, the director of the first Argentine film to win an Oscar, has passed away.
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Puenzo’s death at 80 was confirmed on April 21 by the main organization representing Argentine creatives.
“With deep sorrow, we bid farewell to the outstanding screenwriter, director, producer, and partner in our organization, Luis Puenzo, who passed away today in the city of Buenos Aires at the age of 80,” the General Society of Argentine Authors’ statement read, per the Buenos Aires Times.
No cause of death was provided, but Puenzo had been absent from public life for some time due to health issues.
His 1986 drama, La historia oficial (The Official Story), won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie is about military families adopting children taken from activists during Argentina’s 1976–1983 dictatorship.
Puenzo was born in Buenos Aires on February 19, 1946. He began his career in advertising in the 1960s before founding his own production company, Luis Puenzo Cine. There, he directed short films and commercials, developing his narrative style before transitioning to feature films.
Luis Puenzo Also Directed Legendary Actors Like Jane Fonda, William Hurt, and Robert Duvall
His directorial and screenwriting debut came in 1973 with Luces de mis zapatos, a children’s film starring Norman Briski. He later co-directed the segment “Cinco años de vida” for the omnibus film Las sorpresas.
Puenzo also directed the 1989 drama Old Gringo, starring Jane Fonda, and the 1992 film The Plague, an adaptation of the Albert Camus novel starring William Hurt and Robert Duvall.
In 1994, he helped draft the National Film Law (Law No. 24,377), which established the autonomy and funding structure of the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA) and significantly boosted film production.
In 2004, Puenzo co-founded the Academia de las Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas de la Argentina. He later served as president of the INCAA from late 2019 to April 2022.