Riders

A leading light of the New Argentine Cinema (with Lucrecia Martel and Lisandro Alonso, among others) at the end of the 1990s, Martin Rejtman is best known for his minimalist fiction. His second documentary is set in Buenos Aires during the pandemic and follows delivery drivers for local UberEats clone apps, the majority of which are Venezuelans who have fled the crisis ravaging their country. The precise framing highlights the mechanical aspect behind the work that these young men do. Constantly on the go, carrying their fluorescent, cube-shaped delivery bags, they have become the paradoxically invisible icons of 2.0 platforms. However, Rejtman also intends to give them depth by filming the day-to-day life of Joel and his brother, particularly their private life. These two “riders”, recently arrived in Argentina, putting human faces on the anonymous collective of delivery drivers, and establish a connection with the second part of the film, which was shot in their home country. Through exceptionally fluid editing work, the Argentinian director has created a humanist and structuralist film which powerfully reveals the close links between migratory dynamics and the net economy, at opposite ends of the South American continent.

Emmanuel Chicon

Riders, 2024
Shakti, 2019
Dos disparos, 2014
Copacabana, 2006
Los guantes mágicos, 2003
Silvia Prieto, 1999
Rapado, 1992
Sitting on a Suitcase, 1986
Doli vuelve a casa, 1986