In 1897, Eugenio Py produced the documentary film "La bandera argentina", moment in which it may be considered that the Argentine film history was born.  In the beginning, the main motives in films were the national history and literature. In 1917, Quirino Cristiani produced the first animated feature film in world history, named "Apostol". With the arriving of sound films, cinema became more popular.

From the 50s onwards, the Argentine cinema started a period of renovation and Argentina begins to participate in the international film festival. Some of the outsanting names of this period are Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Fernando Ayala, David José Kohon, Simóm Feldman, Hugo Santiago, Fernando Solanas y Manuel Antín.

Since the 80s, the Argentine cinema received numerous international awards in the different film festivals around the world. Among those awards, there are two Oscars for best movie in foreign language.Some of the most oustanding contemporary directors are María Luisa Bemberg, Adolfo Aristarain, Alejandro Doria, Martín Rejtman, Bruno Stagnaro, Adrián Caetano, Pablo trapero y Juan José Campanella.