He's often credited as Adrián Caetano. He works mainly in the cinema of Argentina and at times, he obtains funding for his films in Europe. He lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At age of sixteen, his family moved to Córdoba, Argentina. When he was older, he shot several short videos including Visite Carlos Paz, and Calafate. In 1995, Caetano won a prize in a script contest he entered. The money won allowed him to film the short Down Hill, his first work filmed in 35mm. Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes followed. The film was well received at the various film festivals where it screened. In 1996, Caetano won a Media ArtsFellowship, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City. Caetano also directs television commercial and programs. In 2005, Caetano returned to Uruguay to shoot the mini-series Uruguayos Campeones for television.
Film critic Manohla Dargis, writing for the Los Angeles Times, calls Caetano "a leading figure in the new Argentine cinema." She notes that Caetano's first feature, the 1998 release of Pizza, Beer, Cigarettes, helped jump-start a "New Argentine Cinema." His first full-length film, Bolivia was well received by film critics, even though it took three years to produce the film due to budget constraints. His film Chronicle of an Escape, the true story of four men who narrowly escaped death at the hands of Argentina's military death squads during the 1970s, was released in 2006. The film was a major box office success in Argentina, and was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. It has won and been nominated for numerous awards.
Filmography
Visite Carlos Paz
Calafate
Cuesta abajo , a.k.a. Down Hill
Pizza, birra, faso a.k.a. Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes
La Expresión del deseo , a.k.a. The Plaza: The Expression of Desire
Cannes Film Festival: Young Critics Award Best Feature, Israel Adrián Caetano, for Bolivia, 2001.
London Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize, Israel Adrián Caetano, for its direct, sentimental treatment of one of the most important social questions facing urban societies everywhere, for Bolivia, 2001.
Donostia-San Sebastián International Film Festival: Made in Spanish Award, Israel Adrián Caetano, for Bolivia, 2001.
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best First Film, for Pizza, birra, faso, 1999.
Fribourg International Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize, Israel Adrián Caetano and Bruno Stagnaro, for a first feature by two young directors who dramatise with force and without sentimentality the predicament of the teenage marginals of Argentina; and Grand Prix, for Pizza, birra, faso, 1998.
Gramado Film Festival: Golden Kikito, Best Director, Best Film, Best Screenplay, for Pizza, birra, faso 1998. Shared with Bruno Stagnaro.
