The programme includes three main competitions: the International Official Competition, the Argentine Official Competition, and the Vanguard and Genre Competition. Argentine cinema also takes center stage with lifetime achievement awards for two pivotal figures: Raúl Perrone and Ana Poliak. International focuses include Hungarian director György Pálfi and young Japanese filmmaker Yugo Sakamoto, the latter known for his fast-paced, genre-blending style. The festival also welcomes back radical Catalan director Pere Portabella for a new retrospective that will include films not seen in his previous 2006 Bafici Focus. In the Rescues section, highlights include Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money, Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, and seminal Argentine films like Rodrigo Moscoso’s Modelo 73 and Enrique Bellande’s Mary’s City.

Following the case of Agostina Páez, who was arrested on accusations of racism in Rio de Janeiro, another Argentine, in this case a scientist, is now facing an even more serious legal problem in Brazil: allegedly stealing a virus from a laboratory. Soledad Palameta Miller, a 36-year-old researcher employed at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), is under investigation for allegedly stealing viral material from a restricted area of ​​the Biology Institute at Unicamp. The scientist allegedly entered an unauthorized area and removed samples considered sensitive. The Argentine scientist was arrested upon discovery but posted bail after being detained for a day at the Mogi Guaçu Women’s Penitentiary and is currently free. From Rosario to CampinasAccording to Argentine and Brazilian media outlets, Palameta was born in Rosario, Argentina.

Buenos Aires cultural scene — certainly as resilient as the city’s humidity — offers a powerful blend of history and celebration this long weekend. Highlights include an exhibition depicting the struggle for democracy at the ex-ESMA, a massive rock marathon by the river, a good-old late-night dance party, and a nationwide festival bringing the best of Spanish tapas to your plate. Tapeando 2026 Spanish Flavours in CABAApril 3–12Various restaurants across ArgentinaBerria Sagardi Canti Antonio DThe Tapeando festival brings the spirit of Spain to Buenos Aires with over 150 tapas to discover. For those outside the capital, the Tapeando festival is going national, reaching 53 restaurants across the country. OCIO party at FrereApril 4, midnightOlleros 1775OCIO returns to Buenos Aires for its first 2026 dance party, featuring Washington D.C.-based vinyl collector Martino Boga.

A federal court in Argentina has ordered the government to comply with a public university funding law approved last October which established pay raises for university staff, and which President Javier Milei has refused to implement over budget concerns. The public universities funding law had been initially approved by Congress in August, but Milei vetoed it days later on the grounds that it went against his zero deficit goals. Congress had already passed a similar law in 2024, but Milei vetoed it, and the lower house backed his decision. The new law approved in 2025 made some adjustments to the previous bill, such as clearly stating where the funding should come from. Something similar occurred with a law that increased funding for people with disabilities, approved last year, which Milei refused to implement claiming funding issues.

Poverty in Argentina fell to 28.2% in the second semester of 2025, according to a report released on Tuesday by the government’s statistics institute, INDEC. Meanwhile, extreme poverty affected 6.3% of people living in the country. Extrapolated to the total population, 13.1 million people are living below the poverty line, of whom 2.9 million are living in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty fell by 0.6%. Poverty and extreme poverty depend on households’ ability to afford the basic food basket and the total basic basket.

Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni is now under scrutiny for several corruption accusations, including the alleged improper purchase of several real estate properties and his wife’s multiple contracts with the state. On Monday, a journalistic investigation by La Nación newspaper revealed the purchase of an apartment in Caballito for US$230,000. In his most recent statement filed with the Anti-Corruption Office, Adorni had not reported the sale of his previous property in Parque Chacabuco. His most recent sworn statement covers the 2024 period, as the deadline for filing the 2025 statement has not yet passed. Apparently, the trip was financed by Marcelo Grandio, a friend of Adorni who works in the state-owned TV station Televisión Pública.

Last week the judge ruled that if Páez is found guilty she will be able to comply with her sentence in Argentina, something her defense had requested. They also agreed that Páez will be able to comply with her sentence in Argentina, given she has no criminal history in Brazil and the expected sentence is low. Her defense filed an habeas corpus to demand she be allowed to return to Argentina while she awaits the verdict, and the judge accepted it, reverting the decision. Now, Páez is expected to return to her home province, Santiago del Estero, and await the judge’s final decision. Still, the judge could decide to impose a tougher sentence — the maximum for injúria racial is five years — or acquit her.

The Argentine government will appoint Leonardo Szuchet as the new human rights undersecretary this week to replace Joaquín Mogaburu, who has only been in the position for the past three months. Mahíques reportedly wanted to have someone from his inner circle in the human rights area, a controversial one for the libertarian government. A criminal lawyer by training, Szuchet worked in the human rights area during former President Mauricio Macri’s presidency (2015-2019). First, as Human Rights Strategic Affairs undersecretary, and later as executive secretary of the National Plan on Human Rights. Until now, Milei’s human rights policy has been focused on defunding programs and institutions, insisting on denialist views that justify the crimes of the last military dictatorship, and attacking human rights organizations.

A federal labor court suspended several articles of the government-backed labor reform that Congress passed last month. In March, the country’s main trade union organization, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), filed an injunction against the national government to declare 82 articles of the reform as unconstitutional. On Monday, the 63rd national labor court of first instance temporarily enforced the CGT’s request. The reform overhauled the longstanding laws governing labor relations in Argentina, which Peronism had shaped since the 1940s. Among the modifications, the reform reduces the power of unions, cuts severance pay, and extends the maximum working day from 8 to 12 hours.

A Buenos Aires City court specializing in economic crimes has formally charged the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, and several executives for alleged tax evasion. The conduct was provisionally classified as “tax evasion” and “misappropriation of social security funds” under Law 27.430, with the aggravating circumstance that more than one person was involved. The roles of the accusedThe ruling also examines the alleged involvement of each defendant. In Tapia’s case, he is identified as AFA president and administrator of the entity’s tax identification number. Víctor Blanco also denied involvement in tax management, describing his role as “essentially institutional and protocol-related, without any intervention in tax or social security operations.”Originally published in Ambito

Santa Fe province is in shock after a student, 15, opened fire inside his school and killed a 13-year-old boy. The shooting took place in a public school in San Cristóbal, a city north of the capital of Santa Fe, minutes after the school opened at 7 a.m. on Monday. Santa Fe Governor Maximiliano Pullaro confirmed to the press that the 15-year-old took an Ithaca shotgun to school. San Cristóbal. Las Imágenes de lo que ocurría en la escuela normal Mariano Moreno de San Cristóbal.

Mar de Ansenuza (often called Laguna Mar Chiquita) sits at the heart of the Ansenuza wetland complex and the Ansenuza National Park & Reserve in the northeast of the province of Córdoba. Mar Chiquita hosts three species (Chilean (Phoenicopterus chilensis) all year-round, Andean (Phoenicoparrus andinus) and James’s flamingos (Phoenicoparrus jamesi) as seasonal visitors). In many austral summers, Laguna Mar Chiquita is described as one of the most important non-breeding sites for Wilson’s Phalarope, with ≥400,000 recorded simultaneously in some years: the kind of spectacle that makes even seasoned birders go quiet. Why You Should Visit Mar Chiquita / AnsenuzaA genuinely major wetland: the Mar Chiquita–Río Dulce system is internationally recognised (Ramsar) and now has national-level protection as Ansenuza National Park. Flamingos on a huge scale: three South American species can be seen here, and Chilean Flamingos can exceed 300,000 individuals.

“After investing in more than 30 or 40 companies, I realized that I wasn’t seeing any companies led by women. According to community figures, funds with women involved have an internal rate of return that is 4.5% higher. And for every dollar invested in startups led by women, a 7.2% higher return is generated. Cromodata: A Latin American health data platformKeila Barral Masri, CEO and founder of Cromodata, shares the stage with Harry, her guide dog and the company’s “Chief Firuláis Officer.” Barral Masri is tackling a structural problem: Latin America lacks its own standardized health data. Today, we are the leading provider of Latin American health data to the world,” says the entrepreneur.

Human rights organizations warn that this could potentially affect the search for the close to 300 children taken from dictatorship victims who remain missing. The BNDG is a public institution created in 1987. Among many things, the bill aimed to give the executive branch the power to dissolve certain public organizations and institutions. After demands from human rights organizations, the bank was included in the safe list when the bill was approved months later. In November, former human rights undersecretary Alberto Baños called the figure “false” during a hearing at the United Nations.

Argentine duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso love to spin a good tale, construct concept albums and release ambitious long-form videos that showcase their songs. They toyed with the idea in their 2025 EP Papota and now take it to new heights with their third album Free Spirits. This was soon followed by the release of a video where Sting himself mentioned their “meltdown” and welcomed them to an apocryphal wellness institute named Free Spirits. Finally, on March 19, the Free Spirits album reached digital platforms with 12 songs that reflect their musical growth, ambition and inventiveness. American rapper, singer-songwriter and producer Anderson .Paak jams with Ca7riel and Paco in Ay Ay Ay with a Brazilian batucada feel, and British DJ Fred Again appears in neo-trap song Lo Quiero Ya.