Today is the start of the fifth edition of Thursdays of Chilean Cinema, a section focused on promoting national cinema by liberating diverse titles each week, allowing them to be seen not only within national borders, but also abroad.
Taking its turn this week is the feature film The Mud Woman, second film by director Sergio Castro, produced by Storyboard Media. Accompanying Castro is Victoria Giesen, with her first short film entitled Héctor, produced by Pinda. Both titles had their premieres at different editions of the Berlinale, a festival that has been key in the support and rise of Chilean cinema during the past thirty years.
The Mud Woman premiered internationally in 2015 as part of the Forum section at the Berlin Film Festival. It stars Catalina Saavedra, Paola Lattus, and Daniel Antivilo, and was filmed in the Coquimbo region. Castro’s film also participated in world cinema events like BFI London, Cairo, Jerusalem, and Toulouse.
It’s a film that shows the lack of job security and the violence that women still face in Chile through the story of María, who enrolls once again in a temporary position with the goal of saving money to return to Santiago. There, she will struggle against physical and psychological abuse.
Castro is a filmmaker and photographer. Standing out among his multiple productions, which have been exhibited at various cinematic events, is his role as creator and co-director of the first Amazon Prime original series to come out of Chile, The Pack. He is currently working on his next feature-length fiction, The Saddest Goal (“El gol más triste”), produced by Manufactura de Películas and co-produced with Mexico, Germany, and France; while this year, his feature-length documentary El Negro is expected to premiere, an associate co-production between Chile (Storyboard Media) and France, and associated production with France Televisions and France 3.
LINK TO WATCH THE MUD WOMAN
Meanwhile, the 19-minute short film, Héctor, premiered internationally in the Berlinale Shorts section of the Berlin Film Festival. It stars Armin Felmer and Paula Hofmann, and was filmed in Caleta Sierra, Coquimbo. Following its premiere, it was presented at the festivals of Biarritz, Melbourne, and Busan, among others.
The short, which begins narratively, takes a turn toward the experimental; as it develops, it begins to take us down a path of the senses, where we explore the idea of having to define ourselves, especially from the point of view of one’s sexual identity and appearance.
Giesen completed her undergraduate studies in the Image and Sound Design department at the University of Buenos Aires, which molded her vision as an artist in interacting with people from different countries in Latin America.
LINK TO WATCH HÉCTOR
