"Tasio" (1984), Armendáriz's debut as full-length feature film director, traces the generational history of the title character, a charcoal burner in the Urbasa mountains, whose threaten way of life is detail in a series of elliptical sequences in a visual style that approximates ethnographic cinema. Produced by Elias Querejeta, who also worked on the screenplay, Tasio is played by three actors at different ages. "Tasio"'s realism demanded a three months shoot that involved the actors living and working in primitive conditions. "Tasio" won critical praise and placed Armendáriz as an emerging talented director to be considered.