Venezuelan Filmmaker Margot Benacerraf Dies at 97

On Wednesday, the Venezuelan filmmaker, screenwriter, and cultural promoter Margot Benacerraf died at the age of 97. 

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Born on May 14, 1926, in Caracas, she studied Philosophy and Literature at the Venezuelan Central University. Later, Benacerraf trained in cinematography at the Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies in Paris.

Besides being a pioneer in the Latin American cinema, she founded the National Cinematheque of Venezuela and dedicated her life to the promotion of cinema in her country.

In 1959, Benacerraf received the Technical Commission Award and the International Critics' Award (FIPRESCI) at the 12th Cannes Film Festival for her film "Araya." Previously, in 1953, she had already participated in the Croisette with her short film "Reveron."

The text reads, "Today the legendary director Margot Benacerraf died (1926-2024). For me, the most spectacular sequence in Venezuelan cinema is in Araya (1959)."

"Jose Marti said that 'Death is not true when a life's work has been well accomplished.' This phrase from the Cuban apostle was the first thing that came to my mind when Vladimir Sosa Sarabia, the president of the National Cinematheque, informed me of the physical passing of Margot Benacerraf," Venezuelan Culture Minister Ernesto Villegas stated.

"Margot was a Venezuelan filmmaker who brilliantly executed her craft and immortalized it in the films Reveron and Araya," he pointed out. 

"She also devoted her life to the training of new generations and the preservation of Venezuela's film heritage, being the founder and emblem of our Cinematheque," Villegas added, recalling that the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro awarded Margot Benacerraf the Francisco de Miranda Order in 2018.