FOCUS: CHILE DESPIERTA – LFF2021
When we talk about Chile, we immediately think of the coup that killed Salvador Allende in 1973, the bombing of the Palacio de la Moneda, the political refugees who emigrated all over the world fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship. The Focus: Chile Despierta starts right here.
We must go back to the time when the dictatorship submerged Chilean society in a dark fog of repression, torture and disappearance of the opponents of the regime, erasing any space for free expression, to understand the profound changes in Chilean politics and economy. Democracy was back in the country in 1990, when “Joy is coming” was sung on the streets, but the wounds have not yet been healed.
The social divide has widened more and more, health, the pension system and education have been completely privatized, making the narrow country between the Andes and the Pacific an economic miracle at the Latin American level. Chile was the country that best benefited the economic elites, Chile was for decades the most successful example of North American neoliberalism in a southern country.
It was until October 7, 2019, when the discontent of the people broke out on the streets. Born from a student protest for the 30 pesos increase in the Santiago metro fare, the awakening of the Chilean people continues after more than two years under the slogan “it’s not 30 pesos, it’s 30 years”.
Chilean cinema, in its historical link with social and political issues, has become an instrument of protest, a witness for the world of the great revolution underway, also, and above all, in the face of the great political manipulation of the official media. The audiovisual – made using mobile phones, handy cams, experimental animations – has become an urgency, a concrete form of communication, the weapon of protest.
The Focus: Chile Despierta brings for the first time to Italy, a selection of videos, short films, micro documentaries and short audiovisual recordings on the social events of the last two years in Chile. A space for reflection and discussion through the Chilean cinematographic work, through the transversal gaze of different authors and collectives, located in different geographical points and social spheres of the country, who propose a perspective and a revision of the historical, political and social process that their country is going through.
Juan Francisco González, curator
The selection:
Archivos del estallido / Niles Atallah / 2019 / Animation / Chile / 4’ / National Preview
Toque de queda en San Ramón y la Granja / Fabiola Albornoz, Sofía Bravo & Bryan Villablanca / 2019 / Documentary / Chile / 7’ / World Preview
Templanza / Violeta Banda / 2019 / Documentary / Chile / 1’
Primavera lacrimógena / Pablo Carrasco & Álvaro Sierro / 2019 / Documentary / Chile / 9’ International Preview
Venceremos / Pedro Chaskel & Héctor Ríos / 1970 / Documentary / Chile / 15’
Incidentes en el laboratorio / Felipe Rodríguez Cerda / 2020 / Fiction / Chile / 10’ / International Preview
Las Tesis / Colectivo Ojo Chile / 2019 / Documentary / Chile / 3’
Las manos / Colectivo Pedro Chaskel / 2019 / Documentary / Chile / 4’
Los huesos / Colectivo Pedro Chaskel / 2019 / Documentary / Chile / 2’
Temuco, 29/10/2019 / Colectivo Registro Callejero / 2019 / Documentary / Chle / 2’
Dignidad / Mono González & Francisco Brzovic / 2020 / Animation / Chile / 1’ / World Preview
Plaza Dignidad / Catalina Irribarra Varas & Valentina Donoso Lara / 2020 / Animation / Chile / 1’
