MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay Angry with Oscar-Winning Director Bigelow Film Project

Director Kathryn Bigelow's plans a movie on The Triple Frontier, a controversial area next to the Iguazu waterfalls

Argentine Secretary of Tourism said Enrique Meyer said that Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay are angry with Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's latest project, a film focusing on a border region, shared by the three countries and thought to be a centre for smuggling and terror financing.

Kathryn Bigelow—whose movie The Hurt Locker won multiple Oscars this year, including best picture—wants to examine the area where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet, in a film tentatively titled Triple Frontier but which the three tourism ministers fear could seriously damage their countries reputation with foreign visitors.

Last week, Paraguayan Tourism Minister Liz Cramer called not to cooperate with Bigelow's project. “She has no idea of the bad reputation and damage she could cause with such a movie. I’ve talked about this with Argentine minister Meyer and Brazilian officials”, said Cramer.

“We discussed the subject with Paraguay's Tourism Minister and the Governor of Misiones (an Argentine border state),” said Argentine Tourism Minister Enrique Meyer and “we all agreed that we were deeply angered when we discovered that this project seeks to negatively portray this region shared by three South American countries”.

The Triple Frontier includes the cities of Foz de Iguazú (Brazil), Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) and Puerto Iguazú (Argentina), an area described by regional and international law enforcement departments as one of the continent’s main crime and narcotics centre.

United States intelligence services are convinced that among the numerous Arabs living in the area (estimated in 20.000) there are members with links to terrorist organizations, a claim denied by Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.