CLICK HERE TO WATCH THEY WERE COMING TO GET ME
(Password: AvilaFilms2020)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH DESIDERIUM
In Thursday’s of Chilean Cinema, we are continuing to delve into contemporary portraits of the political, outlining throughout all of October the various ways in which cinema is a place of encounter, dialogue and transformation. We´ve showcased moving documentaries about the search for dignity (Tales about the future; If you listen carefully), seen how the experimental can be a place of resistance in the works of Niles Atallah (Lucía; Rey), and taken a look at the abysmal contradictions of Chilean society in films of Perut + Osnovikoff (The death of Pinochet, The Clever Monkey Pinochet). Throughout this program, our filmmakers have demonstrated that cinema creates an essential space for collective reflection.
Today we continue our exploration by looking at the effects of the military dictatorship and the neoliberal economic model implanted by it, with the documentary They were coming to get me by Álvaro de la Barra and the short film Desiderium by Juan Cáceres. These titles are transcendental in their contingency, especially in the days prior to the historic and decisive plebiscite that will be held on October 25th, the first in our country to be held in a democracy.
After Pinochet's military coup, Álvaro de la Barra's revolutionary militant parents were ambushed and executed near his kindergarten. The future director grew up exiled and in clandestinity in Venezuela, with the heroic image of his parents as a loving couple and as social warriors. In They were coming to get me, De la Barra tries to recover his identity and his lost memories, composing an evocative meditation on absence and loss. This search leads him to a reflection on how images create meaning, in which photographs, videos and press releases construct a past that the military dictatorship tried to erase. In the film, we see one image repeated over and over again: in black and white, a small child smiles, on the shoulders of the parents he did not get to know. It is one of the only photos in which de la Barra appears with his parents. Winner of multiple awards in countries such as Italy, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, the documentary is a key piece to understanding Chilean society today.
On the other hand, in Desiderium we see the traces of inequality that meant 18 years of the deprivation of a democracy. The impactful seven-minute short follows a homeless man who searches in the trash to find subsistence. There, he meets a strange dog, a creature that begins to transform the raw realism in which he lives into a magical world, outlining the possibility of a new life. Recorded in black and white with a filmic texture that refers to celluloid, the short paves the gap between present and past, between resignation and desire. Premiering in SANFIC 12, Desiderium shows a clear narrative line that Cáceres continued to explore with his debut film Perro bomba, one of the most celebrated films of 2019, being screened in multiple cinemas in Chile and the world.
For a week the invitation is to watch They were coming to get me, which will continue to be available on Vimeo on Demand; and Desiderium, available only until October 28th.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THEY WERE COMING TO GET ME
(Password: AvilaFilms2020)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH DESIDERIUM
