With Maite Alberdi, twice Oscar nominated for her last two docus, “The Eternal Memory” and “The Mole Agent,” and Tana Gilbert whose feature debut “Malqueridas” won the Grand Prize at Venice’s Critics’ Week, Chilean documentaries are having a banner year.
Five documentaries participate in the May 20 Chilean Docs-in-Progress Showcase at the Marché du Film’s docu section, Cannes Docs.
Moreover, a delegation of some 15 other Chilean documentary filmmakers have swept into town with their respective projects, with themes ranging from gender issues, Indigenous peoples, climate change, teenage suicide and even, true crime.
“Chilean documentaries today touch on more universal themes, they are not so inward-looking,” Chiledoc director Paula Ossandon told Variety.
One of them, “Oasis,” has been picked up by Argentina’s Compañía de Cine to handle its international sales. Created by the Mafi filmmakers collective, this feature doc, which premiered at Berlinale, explores Chile’s failed attempt to...
Five documentaries participate in the May 20 Chilean Docs-in-Progress Showcase at the Marché du Film’s docu section, Cannes Docs.
Moreover, a delegation of some 15 other Chilean documentary filmmakers have swept into town with their respective projects, with themes ranging from gender issues, Indigenous peoples, climate change, teenage suicide and even, true crime.
“Chilean documentaries today touch on more universal themes, they are not so inward-looking,” Chiledoc director Paula Ossandon told Variety.
One of them, “Oasis,” has been picked up by Argentina’s Compañía de Cine to handle its international sales. Created by the Mafi filmmakers collective, this feature doc, which premiered at Berlinale, explores Chile’s failed attempt to...
- 5/18/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
The Chilean documentary continues to captivate. Four projects have been selected to participate in the Docs-In-Progress Showcase Chile at Cannes Docs 2022, the documentary section of the Marché du Film at the Cannes Festival: ‘Notes for a Film’, ‘The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine’, ‘Malqueridas’ and ‘Asteroid 2518’.
This is the third time Chiledoc is showcasing films. It is scheduled for May 23 within the framework of Cannes Docs, which takes place from May 17 to 25.
The return of Patricio Guzmán to the Cannes Film Festival
In addition, one of the most important Chilean documentarians, Patricio Guzmán, will have the world premiere of his latest film a French-Chilean coproduction, My Imaginary Country/ Mi país imaginario, in the Special Screenings section of the Cannes Festival. (Isa is Pyramide).
Produced by Alexandra Galvis, My Imaginary Country. Protests exploded onto the streets of Chile’s capital of Santiago in 2019 as the population demanded more democracy and social equality around education, healthcare and job opportunities. The doc goes from the social explosion to the formation of the constituent assembly and exclusively includes testimonies from female voices such as the journalist Mónica González, the feminist collective Las Tesis, the Mapuche constituent Elisa Loncón, the writer and actress Nona Fernández, the photographer Nicole Kramm and the political scientist Claudia Heiss, among many others.
My Imaginary Country will premiere in Special Screenings, a section that is part of the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, in which The Mountain Range of Dreams screened in 2019 and which won the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary.
My Imaginary Country/ Mi país imaginario by Patricio Guzmán
“October 2019, an unexpected revolution, a social explosion. One and a half million people demonstrated in the streets of Santiago for more democracy, a more dignified life, a better education, a better health system and a new Constitution. Chile had recovered its memory. The event I had been waiting for since my student struggles in 1973 finally materialized.”
Docs-In-Progress Showcase Chile:
Notes for a Film, directed by Ignacio Agüero is a Chilean-French co-production, and is produced by Tehani Staiger, Viviana Erpel, Amalric de Pontcharra and Elisa Sepúlveda.
This feature film, based on 10 years in the Araucanía 1889–1899, a book with the memoirs of the young Belgian engineer Gustave Verniory, draws a parallel between the present and the past, slipping between the human landscape and the geographical landscape, to reveal the deep essence of the Araucanian territory.
The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine, directed by Alfredo Pourailly and produced alongside Francisco Hervé portrays Toto, the last gold miner of his kind in remote Tierra del Fuego, who is 62 years old and whose body is sick. His son Jorge designs a machine that should relieve the exhausting work.
Malqueridas, directed by Tana Gilbert and produced by Paola Castillo, narrates the experiences of motherhood lived by women in prison, filmed clandestinely with prohibited cell phones. The project participated in the Visions du Réel Pitch in 2021, earning the opportunity to participate in the German festival Dok Leipzig and its market, Dok Co-Pro Market 2021.
In Asteriode 2518, directed by Amanda Rutllant, who produced it with Constanza Luzoro, a filmmaker becomes obsessed with an asteroid that bears her last name and with the lost story of her great-grandfather, a Chilean scientist who pioneered world astronomy in the 1950s and dreamed of building the largest observatory in the Southern Hemisphere as his legacy in the Atacama desert. As she discovers the darker sides of herself, Amanda defies her family’s legacy, as she confronts an autoimmune disease that begins to attack her body.
The prestigious North American weekly Variety, dedicated to cinema and culture, spoke with Paula Ossandón, director of Chiledoc, about the sample of selected projects at Cannes Docs:
“They stand out for their surprising characters, sensitive and imaginative stories, some very loaded with a good dose of humor”, and she revealed the growing attention to Chilean documentaries in the world.
In addition Directors’ Fortnight is screening 1976, directed by Manuela Martelli and Alejandra Moffat, a coproduction of Chile, Argentina and Qatar, being sold internationally by Luxbox. Chile, 1976. Carmen heads off to her beach house to supervise its renovation. Her husband, children and grandchildren come back and forth during the winter vacation. When the family priest asks her to take care of a young man he is sheltering in secret, Carmen steps onto unexplored territories, away from the quiet life she is used to.
This is the third time Chiledoc is showcasing films. It is scheduled for May 23 within the framework of Cannes Docs, which takes place from May 17 to 25.
The return of Patricio Guzmán to the Cannes Film Festival
In addition, one of the most important Chilean documentarians, Patricio Guzmán, will have the world premiere of his latest film a French-Chilean coproduction, My Imaginary Country/ Mi país imaginario, in the Special Screenings section of the Cannes Festival. (Isa is Pyramide).
Produced by Alexandra Galvis, My Imaginary Country. Protests exploded onto the streets of Chile’s capital of Santiago in 2019 as the population demanded more democracy and social equality around education, healthcare and job opportunities. The doc goes from the social explosion to the formation of the constituent assembly and exclusively includes testimonies from female voices such as the journalist Mónica González, the feminist collective Las Tesis, the Mapuche constituent Elisa Loncón, the writer and actress Nona Fernández, the photographer Nicole Kramm and the political scientist Claudia Heiss, among many others.
My Imaginary Country will premiere in Special Screenings, a section that is part of the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, in which The Mountain Range of Dreams screened in 2019 and which won the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary.
My Imaginary Country/ Mi país imaginario by Patricio Guzmán
“October 2019, an unexpected revolution, a social explosion. One and a half million people demonstrated in the streets of Santiago for more democracy, a more dignified life, a better education, a better health system and a new Constitution. Chile had recovered its memory. The event I had been waiting for since my student struggles in 1973 finally materialized.”
Docs-In-Progress Showcase Chile:
Notes for a Film, directed by Ignacio Agüero is a Chilean-French co-production, and is produced by Tehani Staiger, Viviana Erpel, Amalric de Pontcharra and Elisa Sepúlveda.
This feature film, based on 10 years in the Araucanía 1889–1899, a book with the memoirs of the young Belgian engineer Gustave Verniory, draws a parallel between the present and the past, slipping between the human landscape and the geographical landscape, to reveal the deep essence of the Araucanian territory.
The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine, directed by Alfredo Pourailly and produced alongside Francisco Hervé portrays Toto, the last gold miner of his kind in remote Tierra del Fuego, who is 62 years old and whose body is sick. His son Jorge designs a machine that should relieve the exhausting work.
Malqueridas, directed by Tana Gilbert and produced by Paola Castillo, narrates the experiences of motherhood lived by women in prison, filmed clandestinely with prohibited cell phones. The project participated in the Visions du Réel Pitch in 2021, earning the opportunity to participate in the German festival Dok Leipzig and its market, Dok Co-Pro Market 2021.
In Asteriode 2518, directed by Amanda Rutllant, who produced it with Constanza Luzoro, a filmmaker becomes obsessed with an asteroid that bears her last name and with the lost story of her great-grandfather, a Chilean scientist who pioneered world astronomy in the 1950s and dreamed of building the largest observatory in the Southern Hemisphere as his legacy in the Atacama desert. As she discovers the darker sides of herself, Amanda defies her family’s legacy, as she confronts an autoimmune disease that begins to attack her body.
The prestigious North American weekly Variety, dedicated to cinema and culture, spoke with Paula Ossandón, director of Chiledoc, about the sample of selected projects at Cannes Docs:
“They stand out for their surprising characters, sensitive and imaginative stories, some very loaded with a good dose of humor”, and she revealed the growing attention to Chilean documentaries in the world.
In addition Directors’ Fortnight is screening 1976, directed by Manuela Martelli and Alejandra Moffat, a coproduction of Chile, Argentina and Qatar, being sold internationally by Luxbox. Chile, 1976. Carmen heads off to her beach house to supervise its renovation. Her husband, children and grandchildren come back and forth during the winter vacation. When the family priest asks her to take care of a young man he is sheltering in secret, Carmen steps onto unexplored territories, away from the quiet life she is used to.
- 5/8/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Buoyed by the Oscar nomination for Maite Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent” last year, which was also shortlisted in the International Feature category, Chilean documentaries are attracting ever more attention worldwide. One of its leading lights, Patricio Guzman, will have the world premiere of his latest opus, “Mi País Imaginario” as a Cannes Festival special screening.
For the third time in a row, Chiledoc will be presenting a Chilean Docs in Progress showcase, scheduled for May 23 within the framework of Cannes Doc, which runs May 17 to 25.
Spearheaded by Chiledoc director Paula Ossandón, the showcase comprises four films at editing stage. “They stand out for their surprising characters as well as sensitive and imaginative stories, some greatly infused with a good dose of humor,” she says.
Leading the pack is “Notes for a Film,” a Chilean-French co-production directed by Ignacio Agüero and produced by Tehani Staiger, Viviana Erpel, Amalric de Pontcharra and Elisa Sepúlveda.
For the third time in a row, Chiledoc will be presenting a Chilean Docs in Progress showcase, scheduled for May 23 within the framework of Cannes Doc, which runs May 17 to 25.
Spearheaded by Chiledoc director Paula Ossandón, the showcase comprises four films at editing stage. “They stand out for their surprising characters as well as sensitive and imaginative stories, some greatly infused with a good dose of humor,” she says.
Leading the pack is “Notes for a Film,” a Chilean-French co-production directed by Ignacio Agüero and produced by Tehani Staiger, Viviana Erpel, Amalric de Pontcharra and Elisa Sepúlveda.
- 4/25/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Following the success of their collaboration on Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature “Immersion,” production shingles Whisky Content of Mexico and Chile’s Juntos Films have forged a medium-term strategic alliance for the joint development of nine films in six years.
The agreement comes just days after the premiere of “Immersion,” a thriller headlined by Chile’s most bankable star, Alfredo Castro, at the Miami Film Festival where its poster won the Best Poster Design Award. The film has already racked up top awards from the festivals of Guadalajara, Tallinn Black Nights and Punta del Este.
The move also comes as further cooperation among Hispanic companies continue apace in response to the increasing challenges of local content production. The insatiable demand for content from both traditional and new players – especially streamers – in the entertainment industry is also a key factor.
“This is another firm step towards our goal of turning our...
The agreement comes just days after the premiere of “Immersion,” a thriller headlined by Chile’s most bankable star, Alfredo Castro, at the Miami Film Festival where its poster won the Best Poster Design Award. The film has already racked up top awards from the festivals of Guadalajara, Tallinn Black Nights and Punta del Este.
The move also comes as further cooperation among Hispanic companies continue apace in response to the increasing challenges of local content production. The insatiable demand for content from both traditional and new players – especially streamers – in the entertainment industry is also a key factor.
“This is another firm step towards our goal of turning our...
- 3/18/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Picked up by Latido Films at last year’s San Sebastian Film Festival, Chilean suspense-thriller “Immersion,” headed by Chile’s biggest star and Pablo Larraín regular, Alfredo Castro, has dropped its first trailer, which Variety bows exclusively.
Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature, which he co-wrote with fellow filmmakers Agustín Toscano (“The Snatch Thief”) and Moises Sepúlveda (“The Illiterate”), revolves around a father, Ricardo, who has taken his two teen daughters to their rundown family home by a lake in southern Chile. While out sailing, they spot a sinking boat with three local fishermen shouting for help. Despite his daughters’ entreaties, he refuses to help the trio who he thinks look suspicious.
The trailer opens on that scene at the lake, followed by subsequent scenes that grow in tension and suggest that his fears may not have been unfounded after all. Or perhaps, that his prejudices may have triggered otherwise innocent...
Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature, which he co-wrote with fellow filmmakers Agustín Toscano (“The Snatch Thief”) and Moises Sepúlveda (“The Illiterate”), revolves around a father, Ricardo, who has taken his two teen daughters to their rundown family home by a lake in southern Chile. While out sailing, they spot a sinking boat with three local fishermen shouting for help. Despite his daughters’ entreaties, he refuses to help the trio who he thinks look suspicious.
The trailer opens on that scene at the lake, followed by subsequent scenes that grow in tension and suggest that his fears may not have been unfounded after all. Or perhaps, that his prejudices may have triggered otherwise innocent...
- 9/23/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
In down-to-the-wire San Sebastian Festival business, Madrid-based Latido Films has pounced on world sales rights to Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature “Immersion” (“Inmersión”), a Chilean suspense-thriller – and potential political metaphor for those who want to see it – starring Pablo Larraín regular Alfredo Castro.
“Immersion” is based on a screenplay by Postiglione and two film directors in their own right: Fast-rising Argentine director Agustín Toscano whose 2018 “The Snatch Thief” played in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight; and Moises Sepúlveda, whose “The Illiterate” premiered at Venice’s International Critics’ Week.
Before being shopped at San Sebastian, “Immersion” was screened in late August at the inaugural Lima-Toulouse Cine en Construcción.
Postiglione’s feature debut, “Immersion” turns on a middle-class father Ricardo (Castro) who takes his two daughters to their lakeside family house in southern Chile.
Out on a yacht one day, they see three young local fishermen waving at them from another boat which is rapidly taking on water.
“Immersion” is based on a screenplay by Postiglione and two film directors in their own right: Fast-rising Argentine director Agustín Toscano whose 2018 “The Snatch Thief” played in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight; and Moises Sepúlveda, whose “The Illiterate” premiered at Venice’s International Critics’ Week.
Before being shopped at San Sebastian, “Immersion” was screened in late August at the inaugural Lima-Toulouse Cine en Construcción.
Postiglione’s feature debut, “Immersion” turns on a middle-class father Ricardo (Castro) who takes his two daughters to their lakeside family house in southern Chile.
Out on a yacht one day, they see three young local fishermen waving at them from another boat which is rapidly taking on water.
- 9/26/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Chilean producers to track, who will be forming part of the Berlinale’s 2020 Country in Focus dedicated to Chile. Five are well-known, another five on the rise :
Up-and-coming
María José Díaz
Dos Be Producciones
An executive producer and investigative journalist for TV series and doc-features, Diaz is an executive producer at Dos Be Prods. and founder of Galgo Storytelling, a transmedia content producer. Projects in development: Doc “Haganse la Luz,” Ignacia Merino and Isabel Reyes’ debuts, and docu series “Nepen” about Chile’s indigenous Mapuches.
Yeniffer Fasciani
Niebla Producciones
A 2015 Berlinale Talents participant, Fasciani is a partner/co-founder of Niebla Prods. In 2016 she produced TV series “Martin, Man and Legend” for La Santé Films and was executive director of Dci, a Chilean film distributor. Upcoming projects: Carola Quezada’s “Perros sin Cola,” Chilean-Japanese co-production “Green Grass” by Ignacio Ruiz, and pregnant boxer drama “A La Deriva.”
Cynthia García
Cyan Prods
Founder of Cyan Prods.
Up-and-coming
María José Díaz
Dos Be Producciones
An executive producer and investigative journalist for TV series and doc-features, Diaz is an executive producer at Dos Be Prods. and founder of Galgo Storytelling, a transmedia content producer. Projects in development: Doc “Haganse la Luz,” Ignacia Merino and Isabel Reyes’ debuts, and docu series “Nepen” about Chile’s indigenous Mapuches.
Yeniffer Fasciani
Niebla Producciones
A 2015 Berlinale Talents participant, Fasciani is a partner/co-founder of Niebla Prods. In 2016 she produced TV series “Martin, Man and Legend” for La Santé Films and was executive director of Dci, a Chilean film distributor. Upcoming projects: Carola Quezada’s “Perros sin Cola,” Chilean-Japanese co-production “Green Grass” by Ignacio Ruiz, and pregnant boxer drama “A La Deriva.”
Cynthia García
Cyan Prods
Founder of Cyan Prods.
- 2/20/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Francisco Hervé of Panchito Films, Moisés Sepúlveda from Madriguera Films and Daniela Raviola, three of Chile’s most exciting international-minded independent producers, have together launched a new indie production house, Juntos Films.
Hervé has written, directed and produced (María Paz González ‘s “Daughter”) several feature films, documentaries and TV series which have screened at major festivals around the world. He is a member of the Eurodoc producers’ network and teaches at the University of Chile and Catholic University of Chile in Santiago.
“For year’s we’ve been working on our own, like lonely wolves. Collectively though, we find that in creative work the sum is more than the value of the parts,” he told Variety about the merger.
Raviola has produced short films, television, documentaries, animation and served as General Producer of the International Animation Festival Chilemonos and Mai! Animation Market. She worked with Hervé at Panchito where she...
Hervé has written, directed and produced (María Paz González ‘s “Daughter”) several feature films, documentaries and TV series which have screened at major festivals around the world. He is a member of the Eurodoc producers’ network and teaches at the University of Chile and Catholic University of Chile in Santiago.
“For year’s we’ve been working on our own, like lonely wolves. Collectively though, we find that in creative work the sum is more than the value of the parts,” he told Variety about the merger.
Raviola has produced short films, television, documentaries, animation and served as General Producer of the International Animation Festival Chilemonos and Mai! Animation Market. She worked with Hervé at Panchito where she...
- 8/24/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Tribeca Film Institute announced four films as winners of the Tfi Latin America Media Arts Fund this weekend. The films include Francisco Hervé's "City of the Caesars," Claudio Araya Silva's "Cuando los Muertos Estan Mas Secos," Ana Petra Costa's "Elena," and Alejo Hoijman's "The Shark’s Eye." The festival also announced the winners of the first Heineken Voces grant. The two films that received the grant included Cristina Ibarra's "Las Marthas" for Documentary and Diego Araujo's "Feriago (Holiday)" for Narrative. “We are proud to support this year’s Latin America Fund and Heineken Voces winners, and look forward to helping these six filmmakers further develop their films,” said Ryan Harrington, Director of Documentary Programming for Tfi. “The Voces grant extends our Latin Fund’s reach by allowing us to work with filmmakers in the United States...
- 4/23/2012
- by Devin Lee Fuller
- Indiewire
HollywoodNews.com: The Tribeca Film Institute (Tfi) announced the award winners for the Tfi Latin America Media Arts Fund and first-ever Heineken Voces grant at a celebration over the weekend for Latin American filmmakers during the Tribeca Film Festival. The funds, totaling $60,000, support innovative Latin American film and video artists to help them explore stories reflecting diverse cultures and gain exposure in the film industry.
The Tfi Latin America Media Arts Fund awards $10,000 grants to animation, documentary, or hybrid feature-length films in advanced development, production or post-production from filmmakers living and working in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Grantees also receive exclusive guidance from Tfi to ensure that each film reaches completion and enters the U.S. marketplace from the best possible vantage point. The Fund is sponsored by Moviecity and Canacine.
“We are proud to support this year’s Latin America Fund and Heineken Voces winners, and...
The Tfi Latin America Media Arts Fund awards $10,000 grants to animation, documentary, or hybrid feature-length films in advanced development, production or post-production from filmmakers living and working in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Grantees also receive exclusive guidance from Tfi to ensure that each film reaches completion and enters the U.S. marketplace from the best possible vantage point. The Fund is sponsored by Moviecity and Canacine.
“We are proud to support this year’s Latin America Fund and Heineken Voces winners, and...
- 4/23/2012
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
This week Cinereach announced $350,000 in grant funding going towards 17 documentary, fiction and hybrid projects. Ten projects are receiving Cinereach support for the first time, while seven are receiving additional funds. Over 1,000 applications were received from filmmakers hailing from over 70 countries. The recipients, who include one Filmmaker 25 New Face (Rebecca Richman Cohen), are below. For more information on Cinereach, visit their site.
Call Me Kuchu
Dir. Katherine Fairfax Wright & Malika Zouhali-Worrall | Uganda | Nonfiction | In Post-Production
As state-sanctioned homophobia reaches new heights in Uganda, David Kato, the country’s first openly gay man, will stop at nothing to liberate the Lgbt community.
Citizen Corp
Dir. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal | USA | Nonfiction | In Production
A story about money, power and democracy in the aftermath of the Us Supreme Court’s recent decision to treat corporations as citizens.
City of the Caesars
Dir. Francisco Hervé | Chile | Nonfiction | In Development
With Patagonia under grave...
Call Me Kuchu
Dir. Katherine Fairfax Wright & Malika Zouhali-Worrall | Uganda | Nonfiction | In Post-Production
As state-sanctioned homophobia reaches new heights in Uganda, David Kato, the country’s first openly gay man, will stop at nothing to liberate the Lgbt community.
Citizen Corp
Dir. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal | USA | Nonfiction | In Production
A story about money, power and democracy in the aftermath of the Us Supreme Court’s recent decision to treat corporations as citizens.
City of the Caesars
Dir. Francisco Hervé | Chile | Nonfiction | In Development
With Patagonia under grave...
- 10/16/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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