Kumu Documentary: El Ariston
Dir Gerardo Panero
Argentina 2024, 67 min
In Spanish and English, with English subtitles
The film El Ariston will be screened as part of the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2026, How Much? in collaboration with the Estonian Centre for Architecture, the Tallinn Architecture Biennale and Kumu Documentary.
A landmark on the edge of oblivion
El Ariston (2024), directed by Gerardo Panero, is a Spanish-language documentary that chronicles the history and gradual deterioration of the iconic Parador Ariston in Mar del Plata, Argentina. As the only building in Latin America designed by Marcel Breuer, a pivotal figure in the Bauhaus movement, the structure holds exceptional architectural and historical significance. The film traces Breuer’s 1947 visit to Argentina and examines the building’s modernist legacy, while documenting the ongoing preservation efforts to save this landmark from the ravages of time and neglect.
The documentary has received positive recognition on the international festival circuit, earning a Special Mention in the Argentine Competition at the 39th Mar del Plata International Film Festival and later being selected for the 2025 Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival. Directed by the Argentine film-maker Gerardo Panero, El Ariston has been praised for bringing renewed public attention to the preservation of one of Latin America’s most significant examples of modernist architecture, asking, among other things, what the role of architecture in society’s collective memory is.
We thank: Estonian Centre for Architecture and the Tallinn Architecture Biennale
