The Melbourne Cinémathèque

“A country without documentary films is like a family without a photo album.”

-Patricio Guzmán

Resolutely subjective & poetic in his approach to documentary filmmaking, Chilean-born Patricio Guzmán has spent the majority of his working life uncovering, analysing, manipulating & meditating on the tumultuous & incredibly fractured political landscape of his homeland.

Inspired & influenced by the non-fiction works of such luminaries as Chris Marker, Gualtiero Jacopetti & Alain Resnais, amongst many others, he began his filmmaking career by documenting the sweeping social & economic reforms enacted by Latin America’s first democratically elected socialist head of state, Chile’s then-president Salvador Allende. With a feature debut that, to this day, is widely regarded as one of the most important political documentaries of all time (The Battle of Chile), Guzmán has continued to create profound & moving filmic investigations into some of the fundamental components of history itself: oppression, revolution, the interface between official histories & collective memory, and the full & ferocious spectrum of human nature, from the wondrous to the terrifying.

Featuring the monumental The Battle of Chile, a gripping 5-hour epic of guerrilla filmmaking in 3 parts, & including his most recent film, the magnificent (and award-littered) Nostalgia for the Light, this specially-imported season encompasses the defining moments of Guzmán,s remarkable career & affords a rare glimpse of his expansive personal vision, one that is as profound as it is unique.

7:00 – THE BATTLE OF CHILE PARTS 1-3
Patricio Guzmán (1975-78) 262 mins PG

Vying for status as one of the most important works in political filmmaking history, Guzman’s 3-part film chronicles the cataclysmic events surrounding the country’s military coup of 1973.

Guzmán & his team initially set out to document the social & economic reforms of a newly elected socialist president – Salvador Allende – but instead found themselves filming the violence & chaos that brought about his death.

Cinéma vérité at its most urgent, the compiled footage is all 1st-hand, the political instability affording Guzmán & his team a freedom to openly shoot the events that unfolded, a freedom tempered by extreme danger, resulting in one of his cameramen being shot dead as he filmed (the now-famous footage included in the final cut). The footage was smuggled out of Chile & assembled by Guzmán & his team in European exile.

Part 1: The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie

(1975) 96 mins.

Documents the rise of the right-wing movement against Allende.

Part 2: The Coup d’etat

(1976) 88 mins.

Chronicles the events immediately surrounding the CIA-supported coup itself.

Part 3: The Power of the People

(1979) 78 mins.

Guzmán’s final instalment shifts from covering the actions of Allende’s opponents to those who battled to revive & promote their toppled leader’s vision for a new Chile.

Excerpt @ Youtube.com

7:00 – NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT
Patricio Guzmán (2010) 90 mins

A subtle, profound & wonderfully measured essay on the underlying philosophy of astronomy, the legacy of Chile’s murderous recent history, archaeology, time, memory, the vastness of space, & the cold gaze of the cosmos on humanity. Guzmán’s poetic contrast between the almost unimaginable passage of time registered by a radio telescope & the endless archaeological dig in the vast Atacama Desert to recover the scattered remains of Chile’s “disappeared” is a devastating, Markeresque portrait of history as an act of forgetting & the actions of a few people (including Guzmán himself) to maintain vigilance against the easy amnesia of the relentless forward momentum of time.

Trailer @ Youtube.com

8:40 – MADRID
Patricio Guzmán (2002) 41 mins

A charming & meditative ode to the city of Madrid, where Guzmán studied directing & filmmaking during the 1960s, & escaped to from Chile after the military coup. Travelling through the streets of contemporary Madrid, Guzmán’s essayistic film freely draws inspiration from the landmarks, the music, the people & the culture to evoke experiences, reflections & insights in order to relate the nature of his historical & personal connection to the city.

9:30 – ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND
Patricio Guzmán (1999) 45 mins

A passionate fan of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe as a 13-year-old boy, Guzmán was delighted to find in his adult years that the story is based on actual events & a real place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 700 kilometres from the Chilean coast. This moves him to film & construct a kind of ironic travel journal as he sets out to rediscover the island, all the while in constant play with the fields of history, literature & imagination.

7:00 – SALVADOR ALLENDE
Patricio Guzmán (2004) 100 mins

A detailed & personal investigation into the tragic history of Chilean politician Salvador Allende. Elected President of Chile in 1970, Allende’s socialist government’s agenda was met with extreme antagonism & hostility by the US. After the bloody CIA-backed military coup of 11 September 1973 that led to the instatement of the Pinochet regime, Allende was discovered shot dead. This moving portrait of Allende & Chilean politics features interviews with those inspired by the leader, as well as footage shot by Guzmán himself during the Pinochet coup.

Trailer @ Youtube.com

8:50 - THE PINOCHET CASE
Patricio Guzmán (2001) 110 mins

General Augusto Pinochet was the first dictator to be humbled by the international justice system since the days of the Nuremburg trials. His surprise apprehension in a London hospital & subsequent 503-day house arrest imposed by Scotland Yard prompted Guzmán to investigate the legal machinations that lead to his extraordinary detainment, spawned by a small team of Spanish lawyers. Interlaced with the compelling legal & historical data are the testimonies of those scarred by Pinochet’s brutality.

Trailer @ Youtube.com