Jason Reitman, acclaimed director of Juno and Up in the Air, has received the Astor Piazzolla Award for Best Screenplay from Argentina’s prestigious Mar del Plata International Film Festival for his latest film, Saturday Night. The award honors Reitman’s sharp and nostalgic script co-written with Gil Kenan, which chronicles the chaotic and thrilling launch of the first-ever episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975.
Although Reitman attended the 39th edition of the festival in November 2023, he had already left Mar del Plata when the awards were announced. As a result, the presentation took place recently in Los Angeles at the residence of the Argentinian consul general, timed perfectly with Argentina’s Independence Day, commemorating the nation’s 209th year of freedom from Spanish rule.
Fede Álvarez, the Uruguayan director of Alien: Romulus, formally presented the award alongside Gabriel Lerman, the festival’s co-artistic director. Reitman, ever the showman, joked about the snub Saturday Night received from major awards, saying, “It was one [Oscar nomination]? That’s one more than Saturday Night got.”
Reitman expressed his deep appreciation for the honor and the warm hospitality he received during his visit to Argentina:
“I fell in love with your country. I cannot wait to go back… I was there with a film about Saturday Night Live, a show started by young people with no roadmap. And when I came to Mar del Plata, I met young filmmakers just like that—passionate and fearless.”
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The Saturday Night writer-director also shared a humorous anecdote about being asked to leave his handprint in cement, similar to the tradition at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre.
“I ran out of space writing my name. So now it just says ‘Jason.’ That’s it. No one will know who it is!”
The Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Latin America’s only Class A film festival, will mark its 40th anniversary this year from November 6–16. Reitman has hinted at returning—possibly with a Sharpie to complete his cement signature.
