Chilean filmmaker Manuela Martelli was announced today as one of the five nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First Time Theatrical Feature Film for her debut feature Chile ‘76. Martelli had just been presented with the Cinema Tropical Award for Best Director last night.
Before debuting as a director, Martelli had participated in more than 15 films as an actress working with filmmakers such as Andrés Wood, Martín Rejtman, Gonzalo Justiniano, Alichia Scherson and in titles such as Machuca, Navidad, Two Shots Fired, B-Happy, and Il Futuro. In 2010, she received a Fulbright to pursue a Masters in Film at Temple University in Philadelphia.
We're excited to share the nominees for the Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Film.
— Directors Guild (@directorsguild) January 10, 2024
Congrats & good luck to all the nominees!
Winners will be announced at the 76th DGA Awards on Sat, Feb 10, 2024. pic.twitter.com/DxDGXsZ5PD
Apnea, her first short film, premiered at the Valdivia Film Festival in 2014. She was also selected by Cannes Directors Fortnight’s program Chile Factory to co-direct a short film with Amirah Tajdin, called Land Tides, which premiered at the Fortnight in 2015.
Set during the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, her debut feature, the Hitchcockian noir thriller Chile ‘76 had its world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight in 2022 and was released in the US by Kino Lorber last May. Starring Aline Kuppenheim, the film builds from quiet character study to gripping suspense thriller as it explores one woman’s precarious flirtation with political engagement.
Chile ‘76 tells the story of Carmen, who leads a sheltered upper middle class existence. She heads to her summer house in the off-season to supervise its renovation, while also performing local charitable works through her church. Her husband, children, and grandchildren come back and forth during the winter vacation, bringing reminders of the world beyond.
When the family priest asks her to take care of an injured young man he has been sheltering in secret, Carmen is inadvertently drawn into the world of the Chilean political opposition and must face real-world threats she is unprepared to handle, with potentially disastrous consequences for her and her entire family.
The winners of the 76th annual DGA Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Saturday, February 10, in California.
