Its origin took place in 1954, when the Information Sub-Secretariat of the National Presidency organized the first Cinematographic Exhibition of Cinema in Mar del Plata city. There, the most important and recent international productions of that time were exhibited, among them, the films:   “Pane, amore e fantasia”, by Vittorio de Sica (Italy); “La ilusión viaja en tranvía”, by Luís Buñuel (Mexico); “The Glenn Miller Story”, by Anthony Mann (USA); “Sommarlek”, by Ingmar Bergman and “Fröken Julie”, by Alf Sjöberg (both from Sweden).

This wish became real in 1959, when the Argentinean Cinematographic Reporters Association managed to get the A category for Mar del Plata International Film Festival from the FIAPF.
From then on ten editions were held until 1979. One of them, the one of 1964, in the city of Buenos Aires and then, in 1967 and 1969, it took turns with Rio de Janeiro Festival.

These festivals were the most important cinematographic-cultural events of the time. European cinematographies were represented, among others, by the French Nouvelle Vague, the young Polish cinema, the most outstanding Czeck cinema, the best Italian realism and Ingmar Bergman and Sweden cinematography bursting in, apart from the excellence of the British cinema. From the United States arrived films which, due to their high thematic, technical and performing level, were awarded in many occasions.

Apart from the Official Competition, many films were exhibited out of competition and several informative exhibitions were held as well; but one of the main attractions among journalists and film makers was the rich interchange of the new cinematographic tendencies, which took place within the meetings with theoreticians from all over the world.

Uncountable international personalities attended the festival. In a brief summary we can mention Paul Newman (who was awarded Best Actor in 1962), Vittorio Gassman, Alberto Sordi, Jean Paul Belmondo, Anthony Perkins, Ugo Tognazzi, Maria Callas, Maria Schell, Marie Laforet, Harriet Andersson, George Hamilton, Tom Courtenay, Mario Moreno (Cantinflas), François Truffaut, Tony Richardson, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Gilo Pontecorvo, Andrzej Wajda, Edouard Molinaro, Pierre Kast, Karel Reisz, Jacques Tati, Curt Jürgens, Cesare Zavattini, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Bauer, Abel Gance, Vincent Minelli, Lee Strassberg, Andrzej Munk, James Mason, Maximilian Schell, Catherine Spaak, Tomas Milian, Ettore Scola, John Gavin, and Jerzy Passendorfer, among others.

Jean-Paul Belmondo -1959-

Eleonora Rossi Drago -1960-

After 26 years, when the festival did not take place due to many reasons, the Cinema and Audio- Visual Arts National Institute, INCAA, took the initiative to negotiate before the FIAPF, the re-admission of Argentina to the international cinema festivals circuits regulated by this international organization. Thus it started the second stage of  Mar del Plata International Film Festivals in 1996, which were held uninterruptedly from then on, with the sole delay of the date changing between November 1999 and March 2001, and the present one, which changed from March to November.

In this way, Mar del Plata International Film Festival, is again an artistic and cultural event attended by film makers, actors, producers, investors, scriptwriters, journalists and members of other technical areas of the cinema from all over the world, as well as a can’t-miss event for all those who are part of the Argentinean cinematography, of all tendencies and generations.   

With the aim of acquiring new knowledges, several students of the numerous careers related to cinema existing in the whole country, take part of the festival as well.

The Cinema Festival is the annual meeting between the audience and the traditional and avant-guard cinematographies that are screened in the many parallel sections.

Kathy Jurado -1963-

Vittorio Gassman -1964-

Juliette Binoche -21º Festival -2006-

Susan Sarandon y Tim Robbins -21º Festival -2006-

Since 1996 up to the last edition in 2007, many foreign personalities have attend the festival, among them Gina Lollobrigida, who was payed tribute for being the most popular celebrity to attend the first festival in 1954, Jacqueline Bisset, Elsa Martinelli, Raquel Welch, Renee Zellweger, Francisco Rabal, Amparo Soler Leal, Lina Wertmüller, Percy Adlon, Arturo Ripstein, Pilar Miro, Dino Risi, Alfonso Arau, Antonio Ferrandiz, Abbas Kiarostami, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Catherine Deneuve, Geraldine Chaplin, Sonia Braga, Emily Watson, Julie Delpy, Nikita Mijalkov, Sally Potter, Alex de la Iglesia, Liv Ullman, Jeremy Irons, Alan Rickman, Philip Noyce, Istvan Szabo, Gerard Depardieu, Volker Schlöndorff, María de Medeiros, Helen Mirren, Vittorio Taviani, Mario Monicelli, Hanna Schygula, Kathleen Turner, Héctor Babenco, Ken Russell, Bob Rafelson, Norman Jewison, Susan Seidelman, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Krzystof Zanussi, Michael Winterbotton, Abel Ferrara and Juliette Binoche.