Martín Sastre

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Martín Sastre (born February 13, 1976) is a Uruguayan artist and filmmaker known for work in film, video, sculpture, photography and drawing. He grew up in Montevideo and started studying cinema at age eight. His siblings often appear in his early art. In 2002 he moved to Madrid with support from Spain’s Fundación Carolina. His early video projects include The Iberoamerican Legend and Bolivia 3: Confederation Next.

In 2003 he created the Martin Sastre Foundation for the Super Poor Art to help Latin American artists reach international audiences. In 2004 he won the First Prize for Young Artist at Madrid’s ARCO fair, and Bolivia 3: Confederation Next was Uruguay’s entry at the São Paulo Biennial.

In 2005 his short film Diana: The Rose Conspiracy premiered at the Venice Biennale, where he claimed to find Princess Diana alive in Montevideo. In the same year he helped bring German Bauhaus artists to Uruguay. In 2008 he won the Faena Prize for an urban video project in Buenos Aires, and plans for his first feature Miss Tacuarembó, starring Natalia Oreiro and Rossy de Palma, were announced.

In 2011 he won the ALMA Award for Best Script and the Best Film Biznaga at Zonazine Malaga for Miss Tacuarembó. Sastre is a vegetarian and likes Fanta Light. He created U From Uruguay, a perfume made from flowers grown by President José Mujica, with 90% of proceeds supporting Latin American artists. Only three bottles exist; one sold at Venice in 2013 for $50,000, making it one of the world’s most expensive perfumes per milliliter. He is known for the line, “Hello Kitty is the Mona Lisa of the Future.”