Mariano Llinás premieres Jorge Luis Borges documentary in Venice

Argentine director Mariano Llinás has premiered a monumental five-and-a-half-hour documentary, ‘Biografía de Jorge Luis Borges’, at the Venice Film Festival. Presented out of competition in the Venice Open section, the film evolved from a simple commission by the New York-based ISLAA foundation to catalog a collection of Borges's personal items in Brooklyn into an ambitious, non-conventional biography.

Rather than using actors or a traditional chronological narrative, the film follows researcher Ernesto Montequín as he examines manuscripts, letters, and drawings. The documentary is structured into three episodes: the first covers Borges's early work and influences; the second explores his personal relationships; and the third addresses controversial aspects of his life, including his support for the Pinochet and Videla dictatorships and his political views.

The film utilizes handwritten manuscripts to provide insight into the author's creative process and mental state, including notes written by his mother during his period of blindness. Llinás describes the project as a way to use physical documents as a ‘map of a person's mind’.