Dead King was made after Martel (1966, Salta, Argentina) won a screen play competition as part of the short film collection Historias Breves (1995), that is often regarded as the starting point of the New Argentine Cinema. Domestic violence situated in north-eastern Argentina. Martel study at Avellaneda Experimental (AVEX) and went to Animation Film Academy ENERC in Buenos Aires. Yet Martel calls himself an autodidact, if only because the film school shut its doors due to lack of funds. Martel: ‘I am not a real cinephile. As far as I’m concerned, going out doesn’t necessarily mean going to the cinema. As an adolescent, my father gave me a camcorder. I kept making video films of the family without being really fascinated, without thinking: I want to go on with this. But in retrospect that may well have influenced me. I was primarily fascinated by technology, machines. And film is an interesting mix of mechanical and spiritual aspects.’ (VN, Ab van Ieperen) See also The Headless Woman
