Martín Rejtman was born 3 January 1961 in Buenos Aires.[1] He studied cinema at the Escuela Panamericana de Arte in Buenos Aires.[citation needed] He then took two years of film studies at New York University, making a short film every week.[2] His first full-length film, Rapado, was criticised by the National Film Institute of Argentina (INCAA), so he looked to foreign funders and settled upon a frugal film-making style which uses small crews and a low budget.[2] Rejtman has a minimalist filmmaking style. He said, "When I made Rapado, I felt that Argentine cinema had too much dialogue, and bad dialogue at that. I hate adornments, I hate artifice, I hate anything that's unnecessary, because there really is nothing beyond the screen."[2]Rapado was based on a short story Rejtman had written in 1992 and was partly funded by the Dutch Hubert Bals Fund.[2] It premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.[3]
Rejtman then made Silvia Prieto (1999), The Magic Gloves (2003, originally Los Guantes mágicos), Elementary Training for Actors (2009, originally Entrenamiento elemental para actores) and Two Shots Fired (2014).[4] He is regarded as a key figure in the New Argentine Cinema, alongside Esteban Sapir.[3] In 2009, he filmed a documentary, Copacabana, about a Bolivian festival in Buenos Aires.[3]
He then planned to make a film in Santiago, Chile, provisionally titled The Practice (La práctica). This was his first film made outside Argentina and follows an Argentine yoga instructor living in Chile.[5] Regarding the change in routine, Rejtman commented that he liked Santiago after editing the sound for Two Shots Fired there and that "every day in Buenos Aires I witness how places I’d love to include in my films are getting lost or destroyed [...] in Santiago it is possible that the same phenomenon happens, but those altered locations are new to me."[5] Before filming started on The Practice, Rejtman released a comedic short film, Shakti. He said it concerned "a Jewish young man, the death of his grandmother, depression, Hare Krishnas, Pesach (Passover), and potato knishes."[5]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rejtman began work on a documentary about the delivery drivers of Buenos Aires. Since most of the drivers are Venezuelan, Rejtman commented that the film was about both migration and the gig economy.[6] It won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.[6] The film is entitled Riders (originally El Repartidor Está en Camino).[7]