Oscar®-nominated director Maite Alberdi will lead a June 12 Art of Storytelling masterclass at the 33rd Sheffield DocFest. The director of The Mole Agent and The Eternal Memory will “explore her intimate career in this in-depth masterclass,” writes promotion agency Chiledoc.
Alberdi will also present her as well as present the UK premiere of her latest documentary, A Child of My Own, selected for the festival’s People & Community section, in which a Mexican nurse fakes a pregnancy to satisfy her husband’s family; a lie that was never meant to last takes on a life of its own.
MEETMARKET
Chile will also be well represented in Sheffield’s pitch forum MeetMarket with three projects: The Weight of Snow; Inside the Biggest Case on Earth, and Isabel Allende: The Documentary. The selection marks the highest number of Chilean projects ever featured in MeetMarket in a single edition of the festival.
The 93-minute Chilean/Australian rough-cut project The Weight of Snow is directed by Matías Bolla and produced by Cristian Valle Celedón and Carolina Sorensen of Film Producciones and People Productions respectively. The synopsis rerads how, in the far south of Chilean Patagonia, gauchos live alone on vast ranches, sustaining a way of life built on endurance. As drought takes hold and their bodies begin to fail, they must decide whether to adapt, leave, or be left behind.
Renan Flumian’s Inside the Biggest Case on Earth, produced by Giancarlo Nasi, follows a Welsh lawyer who brings together Brazilian victims of a mining disaster in an unprecedented legal battle in the UK. What begins as a long-shot lawsuit evolves into a landmark fight for justice that could become one of the largest environmental victories in history. The 100-minute Brazil-Chile co-pro project is at advanced development stage.
Also in advanced development is the 90-minutre Chile/US co-pro project Isabel Allende: The Documentary, directed by River Finlay and produced by Julie Parker Benello, River Finlay, Jeff Zimbalist, Natalia de la Cuesta, José Isla, Felipe Isla and Daniel Castell. Snopsis: Exiled after the 1973 coup, Isabel Allende transformed personal and political loss into literature. In the 1980s, she shattered Latin America’s male-dominated literary world, becoming the most widely read Spanish-language author in history. This is not only the story of a literary legend, but of a survivor who shows how storytelling itself can be an act of love and a tool for resistance. Featuring an original score by Chilean-Canadian film composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer.
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
Chiledoc will also host a co-production gathering on June 11, with the aim of fostering new collaborations within the doc sector, “bringing together Chilean and international producers to exchange ideas, present projects and explore future documentary collaborations.”
Comments Diego Pino, Chief Executive of Chiledoc: “The English-speaking European market remains especially relevant for Chilean projects seeking wider international exposure. This year’s presence at Sheffield DocFest reflects the strength and diversity of Chilean documentary filmmaking, with stories emerging from Chile and Latin America that continue to attract growing international interest. It also reflects the increasing recognition of our documentary sector and the sustained work Chiledoc has carried out at this festival over the past seven years.”
Chiledoc is a public-private organization supported by ProChile under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Chilean Corporation of Documentaries (CCDoc).
CHILEAN DELEGATION
Four producers and their respective companies were selected to represent Chile at Sheffield DocFest, where they will present a portfolio of projects at different stages of development, production and post-production, to expand their collaboration networks and generate new opportunities for international circulation and co-production. Their selection is made possible via the International Market Participation Programme promoted by the Council for the Arts and Audiovisual Industry (CAIA) of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.
The selected producers are:
- David Guzmán Storey, from Reverberancias Media and Santo Cielo Cine, who will participate with the projects in development The Silence of the Telephones, directed by Christian Sinclair, and Friends of Chile, an animated documentary directed by Guzmán himself.
- Isidora Fajardo, from CUBHO Audiovisual, will attend together with director Nicholas Hooper with The Souls of Escazú, an animated documentary series currently in production and co-produced with Brazil and Spain, as well as Gondola, an animated feature documentary in development directed by Pablo Cuturrufo.
- Francisco Hervé, representing Juntos Films, will present the feature documentary An Invisible Lady, directed by Valentina McPherson and currently in post-production, along with the project in development Between Heaven and Earth, directed by Valerie Schenkman.
- Esteban Sandoval, from Pejeperro Films, will participate with the projects in development The Art of Wasting Time, directed by Camila Toro, and Revealed Image, a documentary directed by Wayra Galland and co-produced by Pejeperro Films, Mimbre Films and La Base.
The Chilean presence will also include filmmaker Cristian Saavedra, who is based in Scotland and has been selected to participate in Sheffield DocFest’s Filmmaker Challenge programme with a Scottish-produced project, “reaffirming the ties that Chilean talent continues to build across different territories of the international audiovisual industry.”
Sheffield DocFest and Chiledoc are also hosting you to a late-night celebration of “Latin beats, drinks, and festival energy at Sheffield’s Corporation on June 12.
