Mario Handler

Mario Handler was born on November 10, 1935 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He is a filmmaker and photographer, regarded as a pioneer of Uruguayan militant cinema. He directed his debut film "Vanguardista" in 1958. He then traveled to Germany, where he completed an internship in scientific cinema at the IWF (Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film). Later, in Czechoslovakia, he made a documentary titled *In Prague*.

Handler's work primarily focused on class struggles. Among his early films are "Carlos" (1964), a portrait of a homeless man, "Me Gustan Los Estudiantes" (1968), and "Liber Arce, Liberation" (1969), which documents student protests. In 1972, he went into exile in Venezuela due to the approaching rise of military forces and the subsequent coup.

In Venezuela, Handler's later work addressed themes such as colonial domination, cultural roots, syncretism, and popular religiosity. After many years in exile, he returned to Uruguay in 1999, where he directed several feature-length documentaries, including *Aside* (2002) and *Broken Columns* (2015). In 2000, he became a professor of Audiovisual Cinema at the University of the Republic.