The restoration of one of the landmark works of Argentine cinema will receive its international premiere at the upcoming Venice International Film Festival. Los de la mesa 10 (1960), directed by Simón Feldman, has been selected for the Venice Classics section of the festival’s 83rd edition, which will take place from September 2 to 12, 2026.
Starring María Aurelia Bisutti, Emilio Alfaro and Luis Medina Castro, the feature will be presented in a newly restored version, the result of an extensive preservation effort that rescued a film whose survival had been seriously threatened by the deterioration of its original materials.
Widely regarded as one of the defining works of Argentina’s “Generation of the ’60s,” Los de la mesa 10 survived only through two complete 35mm prints preserved by the Buenos Aires Cinema Museum, both of which had reached an advanced state of deterioration, raising concerns that the film could be lost forever. An additional 16mm reduction print, held by Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA), also contributed to the restoration process.
In response, the Buenos Aires Cinema Museum and the Museum’s Friends Association launched a restoration initiative that began taking shape in 2021. That year, the association organized a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds needed to digitally scan the surviving elements in 4K resolution. The project resulted in the creation of a new digital master and a new 35mm preservation negative at the Film Archive of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The completed restoration will make its world premiere in Venice as part of Venice Classics, the section dedicated to world premieres of restored cinematic masterpieces completed over the past year by film archives, museums, cultural institutions and production companies from around the world.
The 2026 lineup features 19 restored classics, alongside works by filmmakers including Ettore Scola, John Cassavetes, Ernst Lubitsch, Tinto Brass, Luis Buñuel, Roger Corman, Roman Polanski, Andrzej Wajda, Roberto Rossellini and Alexander Kluge, among others.
The selection of Los de la mesa 10 marks another important international recognition for Argentina’s cinematic heritage while highlighting the preservation efforts that have brought back a film considered essential to understanding the artistic and narrative renewal that transformed Argentine cinema at the beginning of the 1960s.
Programación completa
COL CUORE IN GOLA (DEADLY SWEET) – PELÍCULA DE PRE-APERTURA
de TINTO BRASS (Italia, 1967, 105’, Color)
Restaurada por: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
ENGLISH, AUGUST
de DEV BENEGAL (India, 1993, 118’, Color)
Restaurada por: Anuradha Parikh
LA ILUSIÓN VIAJA EN TRANVÍA (ILLUSION TRAVELS BY STREETCAR)
de LUIS BUÑUEL (México, 1954, 83’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino / Fundación Televisa / Cineteca Nacional México
MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ
de JOHN CASSAVETES (EE.UU., 1971, 116’, Color)
Restaurada por: Universal Pictures
LO ZIO DI BROOKLYN (THE UNCLE FROM BROOKLYN)
de DANIELE CIPRÌ y FRANCO MARESCO (Italia, 1995, 98’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, en colaboración con Filmauro
THE WILD ANGELS
de ROGER CORMAN (EE.UU., 1966, 86’, Color)
Restaurada por: Amazon MGM Studios
LOS DE LA MESA 10 (THOSE AT TABLE 10)
de SIMÓN FELDMAN (Argentina, 1960, 83’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Asociación Amigos Museo del Cine de Buenos Aires
UDJU AZUL DI YONTA (THE BLUE EYES OF YONTA)
de FLORA GOMES (Guinea-Bisáu/Portugal/Francia/Reino Unido, 1992, 98’, Color)
Restaurada por: Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema
WOO YUET DIK GOO SI (THE STORY OF WOO VIET)
de ANN HUI (Hong Kong, 1981, 92’, Color)
Restaurada por: M Plus Museum Limited
VALERIE A TÝDEN DIVŮ (VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS)
de JAROMIL JIREŠ (República Checa, 1970, 77’, Color)
Restaurada por: Národní filmový archiv
ABSCHIED VON GESTERN (YESTERDAY GIRL)
de ALEXANDER KLUGE (Alemania, 1966, 88’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Kairos-Film
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
de ERNST LUBITSCH (EE.UU., 1942, 99’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Studiocanal
MINJING GUSHI (ON THE BEAT)
de NING YING (China, 1995, 101’, Color)
Restaurada por: China Film Archive
CUL-DE-SAC
de ROMAN POLANSKI (Reino Unido, 1966, 112’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Fixafilm
VIAGGIO IN ITALIA (JOURNEY TO ITALY)
de ROBERTO ROSSELLINI (Italia/Francia, 1953, 97’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Cinecittà S.p.A.
BRUTTI, SPORCHI E CATTIVI (UGLY, DIRTY AND BAD)
de ETTORE SCOLA (Italia, 1976, 115’, Color)
Restaurada por: Surf Film SRL / Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia / Cineteca di Bologna
GYOEI NO MURE (THE CATCH)
de SHINJI SŌMAI (Japón, 1983, 140’, Color)
Restaurada por: Shochiku MediaWorX Inc.
LA LUNGA NOTTE DEL ’43 (LONG NIGHT IN ’43)
de FLORESTANO VANCINI (Italia, 1960, 105’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, en colaboración con Compass Film
POPIÓŁ I DIAMENT (ASHES AND DIAMONDS / CENIZAS Y DIAMANTES)
de ANDRZEJ WAJDA (Polonia, 1958, 104’, Blanco y negro)
Restaurada por: Di Factory
