In this new edition of our program we are sharing two acclaimed films that feature the powerful performance of the talented and multifaceted Chilean actress, Catalina Saavedra, known worldwide for her role in Sebastián Silva’s The Maid, and a key figure of Chilean cinema over the last 15 years. Starting today and until next Thursday, you will be able to watch her gripping performance in The Retiree by Jairo Boisier and Soy sola, by Natalia Luque. Both pieces portray working class culture from the point of view of women who are experiencing important processes of discovery, exploring the link between female sexual freedom and the society that prosecutes them. Filled with subtle but moving performances and contained but insightful humor, we invite you to discover these gems of Chilean cinema.
In The Retiree, Catalina Saavedra plays Georgina, a woman who lives in the city of Los Andes, taking care of her father and his house after the death of her mother. When her sister (Paola Lattus) arrives to rekindle affections after a brief career in pornography, they are forced to face an arduous and painful journey to rebuild their bonds of trust. Boisier builds a narrative and cinematic universe that closely observes the ways in which these two sisters come together, setting a stage for measured and emotional performances by Lattus and Saavedra. After premiering in 2012 at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Boisier's debut feature made its mark in numerous festivals around the world.
In the short film Soy sola, we again have the pleasure of observing the extraordinary performance of Saavedra, this time as Margarita, a wax esthetician who is suffering through menopause and taking the advice of a young client (Belén Herrera). The conversations they share about how to approach sex and affection ends up shaping both of them in different ways. Luque's short film is an interesting reflection on the bonds of intergenerational sisterhood, resounding with global audiences during 2019. Her success in festivals that include Havana and Chicago-Latino have defined Luque as an emerging director to watch.
The works of Boisier and Luque come together through a central, unifying figure: the performance of Catalina Saavedra, whose outstanding career includes two Altazor awards, three Pedro Sienna awards, and Best Actress Awards in world-renowned competitions including Sundance, Guadalajara, Huelva, Turin, Biarritz, Cartagena, Miami and Gotham.
The director Jairo Boisier is a sociologist with a Master in Arts and Languages from the EHESS, Paris, France and another in Film Script from the UIMP (Valencia, Spain). In addition to The Retiree, he has produced five other short films and has received a scholarship from the Cinéfondation at the Cannes Festival; his works have been recognized in important festivals such as Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand, Visions du Réel, San Francisco, and Valdivia. Today he is developing a new fiction feature film called Look how the water runs.
The emerging talent Natalia Luque is a director and screenwriter, currently getting her Masters in Film at Columbia University (New York). In addition, she is distributing her newest short film La virgen, la vieja, el viaje, that recently premiered in the latest edition of SANFIC (Santiago International film Festival). She is also developing her first feature film Señorita de Buena Presencia and is preparing to shoot her thesis short called Así dicen, which will be set in southern Chile.
