Eugenio Polgovsky

Eugenio Polgovsky (Mexico City, June 29, 1977 – London, August 11, 2017^[1]) was a Mexican filmmaker and visual artist. He worked as director, cinematographer, editor, sound designer and producer of his films. Polgovsky was known for the Mexican documentaries "Tropic of Cancer" ( Semaine de la Critique 2005) and Los Herederos "The Inheritors" (Mostra of Venice, Orrizontti 2008 & Berlinale Generation 2009).

Eugenio Polgovsky
Polgovsky at the Berlinale, 2009
Born	(1977-06-29)June 29, 1977 Mexico City, Mexico
Died	11 August 2017(2017-08-11) (aged 40) London, United Kingdom
Occupation(s)	Director, Cinematographer and Editor
Years active	1994 - 2017

He was the first filmmaker invited in the history of Trinity College, Cambridge, as Fellow Communer in Arts in 2016.^[2]

Polgovsky was the founder of Tecolote Films in Mexico City (2004). He has received 4 Ariel Awards, (Mexican Academy Awards) and more than 20 International awards for his films, including the Joris Ivens Award in Cinema Du Réel, París 2005.

He became a visionary, innovative and independent documentarist, and he brought an experimental spirit and a poetic eye to the medium of cinematography and worked closely and in a prolonged way with the communities whose stories and conditions he has sought to explore.^[3] His personal cinematography enchained with a meticulous and original editing explored the backgrounds of the Mexican reality, from the rural ancient world to the present of the mega city of Mexico.

The MoMa of NY presented his film "Tropic of Cancer" as part of a selection of the region’s most innovative contemporary films.

Biography

Graduated from the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica of Mexico City, he filmed in 2004 "Tropic of Cancer", naturalistic portrait of the struggle for survival of the families in the desert of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He won numerous awards worldwide (Joris Ivens, 27 Cinéma du Réel, "Ariel", IFF Rotterdam, presented in la Semaine de la Critique, Cannes, Sundance, etc...). In 2007 he created Tecolote Films, a Mexican independent production company focused on documentary, and with the support of the Hubert Bals Fund and Visions Sud Est, produced "The Inheritors" documentary filmed in 8 rural regions of Mexico during three years, on the life and condition of the peasant childhood. Its premiere was in the Mostra of Venice 08 and presented at Berlinale 09 (as first documentary invited on the history of Generation section) and winner of the Coral Award of the Havana Film Festival. In 2012 he directed "Mitote" (Mexican Ritual) a self-produced independent film, edited, and photographed by Polgovsky during the struggle of a Union of electricians colliding with the FIFA World Cup fans and Bicentennial celebrations at the heart of Mexico City, the Zocalo.

In the year 2014 he won his 4th "Ariel" Mexican Academy Award for the best Short Documentary Film "Un Salto de Vida" (A leap of life), about the dramatic pollution of the Santiago river in Jalisco and a family that fight against corruption and impunity of the factories.

Polgovsky was recognized with over 30 awards in his different skills, editing, photography, etc... In 2010 he was invited to the Flaherty Seminar in Colgate US to present his filmography and attended a presentation of his films in Cambridge UK.

References

1. "Eugenio Polgovsky Ezcurra". Retrieved 2017-08-15.
2. "Eugenio Polgovsky | Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages". www.mml.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
3. . www.trin.cam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2016-01-15.

External links

• Rufinelli, Jorge (2012).Editorial Intrusa. Retrieved 2012. "America Latina en 130 documentales".
• Cruz y varios autores, Maximiliano (2014). "Reflexiones sobre cine mexicano contemporáneo. Documental"
• Koehler, Robert (2012) "Agrarian Utopias/Dystopias: The New Nonfiction" Cinema Scope. Retrieved 2014.
• Beckett, Colin (2010). Cineaste. 2010. "Working Methods: The Robert Flaherty Film Seminar".
• Beyer, Joseph (2005). Sundance Archives. "2005 Sundance Film Festival Reviews".
• Fabre, Clarisse and Saliba, Frédéric . Le Monde, Sept. 20, 2011 "Dans le champ de haricots, le vertige de l'enfant au travail".
• Catsoulis, Jeannette. The New York Times. Sept. 8, 2011. "THE INHERITORS: For María and José, All Work and No Play".
• Eugenio Polgovsky Films Official website: www.tecolotefilms.com
• French webpage Les Enfants Heritiers [1]
• Polgovsky - Berlinale [2]
• Polgovsky Rotterdam Int. Film Festival "Los Herederos" Hubert Bals, Bright Future [3]
• Semaine de la Critique, Cannes 2005 "Trópico de Cáncer"
• Tropic of Cancer - Sundance 2005 [5]
• Variety - The Inheritors [6]