Two Chilean films will arrive at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, one of the oldest, most important competitions in Central and Eastern Europe. The event, which will take place from June 28th to July 6th, selected two national productions: The Man from the Future, a first feature by director Fellipe Ríos and the first Chilean film to be part of the Official Competition, and The Cordillera of Dreams by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, the film that won the “L’oeil d’Or” (“Golden Eye”) award for Best Documentary at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.
The Man from the Future will premiere internationally on Wednesday, July 3rd. It was produced by Giancarlo Nasi of Quijote Films and stars José Soza and Antonia Giesen, narrating the story of Michelsen, a solitary, wandering truck driver who sets out on his last trip aboard his truck, to Villa O’Higgins in the Aysén Region, in the extreme south of Chile. Along the route, he will begin to let go of everything that supposedly made up his life: his money, his job, his health. However, what seems like a tragedy will become a journey of enlightenment, because in reaching the end of the road, he will manage to redeem himself for his past mistakes, and for the first time, live in the present as he has always longed to do, along with his daughter Elena.
“I think it’s incredible that the film, despite being a first feature, could make it into the official competition. I’m very excited, and it also seems very interesting to me that this line of films that are perhaps associated with a specific territory can give way to a very different kind of cinema,” said Ríos. He adds that “The Man from the Future was born from a concern over approaching two concepts that, for me as a director, are of great importance. The first of them has to do with a reflection on time, and the second, with the utilization of cinema as a tool to transmit human emotions.”
Meanwhile, the film’s producer Giancarlo Nasi stressed the importance of being selected to a competition like Karlovy Vary. “We’re tremendously content and honored to be in the official competition of a festival like Karlovy Vary, and even more so being the first film in the history of Chile to get into this competition. I think it’s a big milestone. It’s important to understand that Karlovy Vary is an A-Class festival, with a tremendous tradition. This international competition has existed since 1948 and I believe it is without a doubt important that we go to other markets, other festivals, it’s tremendously important to understand that Chile is going international,” asserted Nasi.
Likewise, Antonia Giesen, who plays Elena in the fil, said, “The fusion of age ranges makes it an audiovisual project with a lot of variety. Felipe is a young director, making this for the first time; then there’s José Soza, with whom we’re great co-protagonists, and with a big age difference [between us], so that conjugation is interesting on a creative level. It required a lot of work at the table which became an encounter of experiences (...). I think the cinematography and the art are gorgeous, the place, but overall it’s a project that I have so much love for, so we’ve very content about this selection.”
On the other hand, at 84 minutes in duration, The Cordillera of Dreams also participated in the Czech event, in the non-competitive category “Horizons”. It is the latest in Guzmán’s trilogy, which began with Nostalgia for the Light (2010) followed by The Pearl Button (2015).
Produced by Atacama Productions, between Chile and Switzerland, it is described in Guzmán’s words in the synopsis: “In my country, the Cordillera [mountain range] is everywhere, but for Chilean citizens, it’s an unknown territory. After going to the North of Chile with Nostalgia for the Light, and to the South for The Pearl Button, I now feel ready to film this immense spinal column, to explore its beauty and reveal its mysteries.”
