Pessano, Carlos Alberto

Photographer, film director, and art critic in Argentina. "For the print press, this meant more than a dozen publications related to cinema at the beginning of the 1930s: trade publications that dealt with issues concerning the nascent national industry; those that served as a promotional medium for the productions of the major studios, informing the public about the latest releases and the lives of the great stars; and others that approached the subject from multiple angles, attempting to generate reflection on the artistic status of cinematography. Cinegraf, a publication of Editorial Atlántida, directed by Carlos Alberto Pessano, can be placed within the latter group. During these years, Pessano was part of Buenos Aires's intellectual community, responsible for reflecting on and incorporating into the cultural sphere of the time the issues that were shaping the new configuration of society, a product of the modernization process (...) From the pages of Cinegraf, Carlos Alberto Pessano clearly presented ideas and reflections on the art of cinema, which were, to a greater or lesser extent, put into practice during his tenure at the Cinematographic Institute. Although it is a particular case, since Pessano was active in management, it is worth mentioning the role played by criticism in the early decades of the 20th century as one of the main agents involved in defining national cinematography and the industry.