Quirino Cristiani directed El Apostol, the first animation feature length movie in the history of the film industry, in an era in which features themselves were experimental, in a country where the movie industry was in the embryonic stages, and at a time when animation was rare and exotic. Animated films were not considered of interest for many years and were only mentioned in extreme cases. The first Latin American films for instructional or scientific purposes were made by Cristiani, as were the first animated advertisements on that continent. Argentinean film historians did know that El Apostol and Peludopolis had existed. Most films produced at that time were melodramatic, such as romantic novels, and made use of tear-jerker plots, with scenes of tango dances and sentimentalism. Cristiani's films, instead, were vignettes made for an educated public who were informed about politics, and were based on references to news and criticism of the government.