“We arrive at Cannes Docs with four projects in the work-in-progress stage, showcasing the diversity of Chilean production, both in thematic and aesthetic terms,” comments Paula Ossandón, director of Chiledoc.
“These include immigration in northern Chile; a young woman returning to Patagonia to value her Selk’nam identity; a Jewish family questioning their connection with the State of Israel; and a legendary filmmaker embarking on an extravagant project. All fascinating stories that touch on timely and creative themes.”
ALIYÁ, YERIDÁ is directed by Rafael Guendelman and produced by Joaquín Echeverría for Chilean outfit Brisa. The synopsis points out how the Hebrew word ‘aliyá’ means to go up, referring to emigration to Israel, whereas ‘yeridá’ means the opposite, ie to descend and referring to emigration from Israel. Using family archives, the director explores his family’s motivations for emigrating to Israel in the 1970s and the disappointments that led to their return to Chile decades later.
The debut film, currently in post-production, has a running time of 70 minutes and has 79% of its €100,063 budget in place. The expected release date is February 2025.
“We are at a crucial stage to fulfil our goal of premiering during the first semester of 2025 after securing funding for post-production and having advanced editing. At Cannes Docs, we aim to establish connections with programmers and distributors interested in political and migration narratives. We seek to reflect on the armed conflict in the Middle East from a Latin American perspective,” says producer Echeverría.
Amilcar Infante and Sebastián González’s 80-minute UNWELCOMED is produced by co-director González (Amilcar Infante Films) and Esteban Sandoval of Pejeperro Films. Synopsis: In 2021, northern Chile witnessed one of the most newsworthy anti-immigration demonstrations in the country, highlighting the lack of control of its supporters, with incidents such as burning tents, baby strollers, and the belongings of families. These images traveled around the world, but not the stories of those affected. This choral account is the living testimony of those who continue to enter Chile despite the adversities, as well as the inhabitants of the territory who live amid a growing social conflict and the harshness of the Atacama Desert.
At Cannes, producer Gonzalez is looking to raise the final 32% of the film’s €280,000 budget and pique the interest of festivals, sales agents, co-producers and gap financiers, as well as receive strategic guidance on the film’s future trajectory.
“We are very excited and happy with the news of being part of the Chilean Showcase and presenting our project at Cannes Docs at the Marché du Film. It is a source of pride and a great opportunity to make our debut feature film visible on the international stage, seeking to raise the necessary financing and partnerships to finish the film and start working on the next premiere,” Gonzalez comments.
THE STATIONARY TRAVELLER is co-directed by Fernando Lavanderos and Sebastián Pereira, and produced by Francisco Hervé of Juntos Films. In the film, two young filmmakers approach Cristián Sánchez (70), a legendary cult Chilean filmmaker, to propose that he make a new film. They impose specific rules on him: the movie has to be about zombies, and he must resurrect characters from his most classic films.
The experiment has a purpose, say the filmmakers. “Our documentary is a kind of making-of of Sanchez’s film. What is sought is to put in tension, with humour and spectacle, the need for efficiency of today’s culture versus the relaxed tranquility of the 70s that Sánchez’s cinema so beautifully knew how to represent,” they underline.
The project is fully funded and will be ready for delivery November 2024. At Cannes, producer Francisco Hervé is looking to generate festival and distribution interest and to hook a sales agent.
” It is the first time we will show a preview of what has been a work of many years. This is a unique instance, not only in terms of visibility—being one of the largest markets in the world—but also as an opportunity to generate networks for this and the other projects in our portfolio,” says Francisco Hervé of his and the project’s presence at the Marché.
RETURNING WHERE I HAVE NEVER BEEN by Constanza Vásquez and Andrés Morales tells a story across dual timelines. The film is co-produced by Alejandra Rosas and Magdalena Ponce for Tonina Sur Films and tells of two journeys that take place a century apart. In 1895, a group of 165 Selk’nam people was captured on the island of Tierra del Fuego and forcibly sent to the city of Punta Arenas to be handed over for domestic service to settler families. In 2021, Fernanda Olivares, a Selk’nam descendant, is the first of her community to return to live in the territory of her ancestors after the genocide to demonstrate that her people are not extinct.
With 66% of its €159,848 budget secured, the debut feature is aiming for a November 2024 delivery. At Cannes Docs the producers are looking to entice festivals, a sales agent, distributors, buyers, co-producers and gap financing ,and to consult on Impact and communications campaigns.
Director Constanza Vásquez comments: “Our documentary seeks to spread what the Selk’nam people have been working on for some time: to communicate to the world that they are not an extinct people and that they seek to give a new beginning to their history in their ancestral territory. We feel that Cannes Docs is a significant opportunity to take big steps towards that goal.”
MORE CHILEAN ACTIVITY AT CANNES DOCS
Chiledoc outlined more activities involving its producers and talents during Cannes Docs 2024.
Pejeperro Films (see Unwelcomed above) will be promotoing their In the Search for the Other, which received this double accreditation for the market as a prize awarded at Conecta 2023, an international documentary industry meeting aimed at linking Latin American projects with industry representatives from around the world, held in December in Santiago, Chile.
In the Search for the Other arises from the resistance to gender roles that led Cons Gallardo to explore the story of Machi Marcelina, a Mapuche ancestral authority unjustly accused of murder and witchcraft in 1995. After her release, she faced the prejudices of her community and distanced herself. Today, it mobilizes Cons through reflections on good, evil, and the possibility of loving beyond stigmas.
Producers María Ignacia Court from Mucha Media and Carola Fuentes from La Ventana Cine will also attend the film market with their immersive reality projects Going Back Home Mother VR and Underwater Antarctic VR. The former aims to immerse us in the complex issue of mothers deprived of liberty, while the latter addresses the very contingent issue of climate change through an exploration journey of underwater biodiversity in Antarctica, the changes it has managed to adapt to, and the irreversible consequences it has suffered.
La Ventana Cine is actively working on several projects this year. One of them is I Don’t Want To Say Goodbye, which delves into the tragic suicide of a Chilean teenager in a Starbucks bathroom, shedding light on the damaging effects of cyberbullying and school harassment. Another project in their portfolio is Letelier File, a documentary series based on the assassination of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier, which is analyzed and investigated through the perspective of a journalist born on the same day as the attack on the former Chilean ambassador to the United States.
FROM VALPARAÍSO TO FRANCE
ProChile and the Regional Government of Valparaíso, through the Innovation for Competitiveness Fund, invited Chilean companies from the Valparaíso region working in the audiovisual sector to participate in the 2024 Marché Du Film Commercial Mission. Three production houses were selected, two of which specialize in non-fiction works: Totoral Films and Reinos Cine.
Totoral Films is showcasing two projects from its portfolio. The first, Tantas Nenas, is a co-production between Chile and Colombia, directed and produced by Kamila Veliz, Pepe Rovano, and Diana Pérez, which portrays the heartfelt farewell of a daughter to her terminally ill mother with cancer. The second, Bastard. The Legacy of a Criminal, a co-production between Chile, Italy, and Sweden directed by Pepe Rovano and produced by Kamila Veliz, Stefano Tealdi, Andreas Rocksen, and Catalina Donoso, explores the relationship between a man and his biological father, a convict for crimes against humanity, whom he only met at the age of 35.
Reinos Cine presents its projects Arrau and Liga Andina. Arrau is a historical documentary series directed by Cristian Vega and produced by Daniel Rebolledo and Macarena Denisse. It explores the relationship between human beings and music through the life and work of the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau León.
Liga Andina, directed by Macarena Denisse and Michael Quezada and produced by Daniel Rebolledo, focuses on how women of all ages from the city with the worst quality of life in Chile organize themselves to break away from work and domestic routines.
