Sebastián Borensztein (born 22 April 1963) is an Argentine screenwriter and film director, best known for the films '' Chinese Take-Away'' (2011), ''

Heroic Losers ''Heroic Losers'' ( es, La odisea de los giles) is a 2019 Argentine heist film co-written and directed by Sebastián Borensztein, based on the novel ''La noche de la Usina'' (''The Night of the Heroic Losers'') by Eduardo Sacheri, who also co-wro ...

'' (2019) and the horror television miniseries ''

El garante EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...

'' (1997).

Early life and education

Sebastián Borensztein was born on 22 April 1963 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, the son of comedian

Tato Bores Mauricio Borensztein (27 April 1927 – 11 January 1996), known by the stage name ''Tato Bores'', was an Argentine film, theatre and television comedian, who specialized in political humor. His ironic TV monologues, delivered at a fast pace, b ...

and Berta Szpindler. He first studied Communication Sciences at the

Universidad del Salvador The Universidad del Salvador (USAL) is a Jesuit university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to its campus in downtown Buenos Aires, it has instructional and research facilities in Pilar, San Miguel, Bahía Blanca, and in the provinces of ...

, but after graduating decided to turn to the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

, and studied film directing at the Augusto Fernández school.

Career

During the 1980s he worked in advertising, but under the guidance of his father, started

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, devel ...

. He wrote, directed and also acted as producer for his father's work, for which he earned several awards.

Television

Borensztein started out by writing for television. His first series, a horror miniseries entitled ''

'' (1997, "The Guarantor") won many awards, including four

Martín Fierro Awards The Martín Fierro Awards ( es, Premios Martín Fierro) is the name of the most prominent awards for Argentine radio and television, granted by APTRA, the Association of Argentine Television and Radio Journalists. History The awards were first g ...

, and was a finalist for the

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

. He made the highly acclaimed series ''Tiempo final'' (2000–2002), later remade by

Fox Telecolombia TIS S.A. (also known as The Independent Studios and formerly known as Fox Telecolombia and TeleColombia S.A.) is a major Colombian television production company in Spanish, founded in 1995 as the ''programadora'' Producciones Bernardo Romero ...

in 2007–9, also named ''

Tiempo final ''Tiempo final'', is a Colombian television series produced by Fox Telecolombia for Canal Uno and Canal Fox which aired from 2007 to 2009. It is an adaptation of the Argentinian series of the same name, written by Sebastián Borensztein and ot ...

''.

Films

Borensztein's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

was ''La suerte está echada'' ("The die is cast"), in 2005, which won several international awards. In 2007, he partnered with American independent filmmaker Benjamin Odell, with whom he co-wrote his second film, ''Sin Memoria'', released in Mexico in 2011. His third film, released in 2011, was the highly successful '' Chinese Take-Away'' (''Un Cuento Chino''). In 2019 ''

'' (''La odisea de los giles'') was released. It screened at the 2020

New Zealand International Film Festival New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, as well as at the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and San Sebastián Film Festivals.

Recognition

Ondas Award The Premios Ondas (Spanish language, Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in t ...

for best Spanish-language TV show, awarded by the Spanish SER network *

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...

(2000), one of the best five Argentine directors of the decade *

(several) *December 2019: An "outstanding cultural personality" by the Honorable Deliberating Council of the

City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...

Personal life

Borensztein was married to actress Paula Siero from 1994 to 1999. Filmmaker Alejandro Borensztein is his brother, and actress Marina Borensztein his sister.

References

External links

* *
''La Nacion'', articles about Borensztein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borensztein, Sebastian 1963 births Argentine television directors Argentine television writers Jewish Argentine writers Writers from Buenos Aires Living people