In this new edition of Tuesdays of Chilean Series, we’ll be presenting one of the most relevant national productions of recent years that set a new standard during its television run and is today among the best-rated national series on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), one of the most important film databases in the world. We’re talking about The Archives of the Cardinal, a work of fiction based on true events that we’ll delve into below.
The Archives of the Cardinal bases its narrative on the work in defense of human rights carried out by the Vicariate of Solidarity (Vicaría de la Solidaridad), an organism of the Catholic church whose intent was to support the families of victims of human rights violations during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
This production shows the day-to-day human stories of lawyers dedicated to the protection of human rights, as well as of agents of the secret police. The objective is to promote reflection on social, family, and personal rupture that the violence led to, and thus proposing a space for healing.
Premiering on June 21, 2011 on TVN, The Archives of the Cardinal is made up of two seasons with 12 episodes each. It was produced by Promocine and directed by Nicolás Acuña and Juan Ignacio Sabatini, and its development was supported by the 2009 National Television Council Fund.
The series has an important cast of Chilean actors made up of professionals such as Benjamín Vicuña, Francisco Melo, Daniela Ramírez, Néstor Cantillana, Paulina García, and Alejandro Trejo, among others. At Chile’s 2012 Altazor Awards, the series won Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Actor.
Nicolás Acuña is a film and television director and producer. His latest work is the highly anticipated adaptation of the novel of the same name Inés del alma mía, by internationally known writer Isabel Allende. The production is a historical series helmed by Spanish production house Boomerang and will premiere in 2020.
Among his most important productions are two for Fox Premium: Berko: el arte de callar (2019) and Besieged (2015). He also directed El Reemplazante in 2012, a series currently available on Netflix. As a film director, Acuña has made the films Blue Bay, Paraíso B, Rojo, and Cielo Ciego, participating in diverse competitions such as the Rotterdam Film Festival, San Sebastián Film Festival, Festival of Havana, and the Miami Film Festival, among others; he was the director of programming at National Television of Chile (TVN) and director of the Film School at the University of Chile.
We invite you to follow the protagonists of The Archives of the Cardinal on their search for truth and justice, a series that contributed to transgenerational debates and dialogues, connecting the invisible dots between testimony and mise en scene, between education and entertainment.
