German-born Chilean filmmaker Pedro Chaskel, a precursor of the New Latin American Cinema, passed away yesterday at the age of 91. He was known for his roles as a director, cinematographer, and editor in numerous short and feature-length films. Notably, he filmed the bombing of the presidential palace La Moneda in Santiago on September 11, 1973, footage that was later incorporated into Patricio Guzmán's groundbreaking film The Battle of Chile, which he also edited. Additionally, Chaskel made significant contributions as a film programmer and professor, shaping the education and artistic development of multiple generations of students.
Born in Berlin on August 2, 1932 to a Jewish family, he migrated to Chile with his family when he was seven years old fleeing Nazism, right before the start of the Second World War. Chaskel became a Chilean citizen in 1952 and pursued studies in architecture at the Universidad de Chile between 1951 and 1954. During that period, he also played a key role as a founding member and programmer of the Cine Club Universitario de la Federación de Estudiantes de Chile (FECH), which was responsible for publishing the magazine Séptimo Arte.
Subsequently, the club was was assimilated into the administration of the University of Chile and rebranded as the Experimental Film Center, co-founded by Chaskel alongside Sergio Bravo, who took on the role of director. In 1961, the university established the Cinematheque, supplanting the Center with the Film Department, with Chaskel assuming the position of director.vIn 1963 he became director of the Film Department of the University of Chile. During his tenure, he mentored two prominent Chilean directors of the latter half of the 20th century: Raúl Ruiz, and Miguel Littin.
Chaskel was a pioneer of the New Chilean cinema, which epitomized a vibrant national film culture. Within this movement, Chilean filmmakers artfully portrayed the social conflicts and political landscapes of their country and Latin America at large. This cinematic wave played a pivotal role in the emergence of the New Latin American Cinema, characterized by its political commitment to addressing and transforming the social conditions prevalent in Latin America during the tumultuous sixties.
In the sixties and early seventies, Chaskell directed various short films including Aquí vivieron (1962), Aborto (1965), Érase una vez (1966), Testimonio (1969), Venceremos (1970), and No es hora de llorar (1971). During these years, he also worked as an editor on Jackal of Nahueltoro / El chacal de Nahueltoro by Miguel Littín (1969), Entre ponle y no Ponle by Héctor Ríos (1971) and Descomedidos y Chascones by Carlos Flores del Pino (1973).
In 1973, following the US-backed coup led by General Augusto Pinochet that overthrew the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende, Chaskel faced expulsion from the Universidad de Chile by the military authorities and subsequently went into exile. From 1974 to 1983, he found refuge in Cuba, where he served as an editor at the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC). Starting in 1979, he transitioned into a role as a director and filmmaker within the same institute.
It is in Cuba that Guzmán and Chaskel reunited and collaborated on editing the three parts of The Battle of Chile, with support from the ICAIC and French filmmaker Chris Marker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest documentaries ever made, the first two parts provide a real-time, on-the-ground account of the events surrounding General Pinochet’s bloody coup in 1973. Part three, set before the coup, focuses on working-class Chileans who mobilize to distribute food, operate factories, and reclaim the means of production in response to widespread factory lockouts by the bourgeoisie.
Praised as "one of the 10 best political documentary films in the world" by Cineaste and included in The New Republic’s list of "the 100 most significant political films of all time," a new 2K restoration of this seminal work was released last year by Icarus Films Icarus Films in the US to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Chilean coup. The film is available to stream on OVID.tv.
While in Cuba, Chaskel, along with Gastón Ancelovici, established the Chilean Film Archives From the Exile (initially named the Chilean Cinematheque of the Resistance) in 1974. This archive, comprising materials from Cuba, Spain, and France, was created with the objective of preserving national films at risk within Chile and promoting the dissemination of audiovisual works produced by exiled filmmakers, who were beginning to explore Chilean themes from various countries.
In Cuba, Chaskel also directed the documentary films Los ojos como mi papa and Una foto recorre el mundo. Between 1972 to 1980, he served as Secretary General of the Union of Cinematheques of Latin America (UCAL), and was a founding member of the Superior Council of the New Latin American Cinema Foundation, based in Havana.
In 1983, Chaskel returned to Chile and worked in film and video as an independent professional, working as an editor and director of documentaries. A great opponent of the dictatorship and in co-direction with Pablo Salas, he made the documentary Somos + (1985) and Por la vida (1987).
He also contributed to the series "Al sur del mundo," directing and editing multiple episodes of the program. In 1997, he joined the University of Chile as an academic, where he dedicated himself to mentoring generations of artists and filmmakers. In 2008, Chaskel was again director of the Cineteca of the University of Chile after its reopening, and he served as a jury member for numerous international film festivals including Havana, Leningrad, Leipzig, Trieste, and Mar del Plata.
In 2015, Chaskel directed his final film titled De vida y de muerte, testimonios de la Operación Cóndor, which delves into the documentation of this operation, revealing both the perpetrators and the victims. The filmmaker received numerous awards and accolades, including the Rectoral Medal of the University of Chile (2006), the “Pablo Neruda” Order for Artistic and Cultural Merit by the National Council of Culture and the Arts of the Government of Chile (2005), the Pedro Sienna Award for Lifetime Achievement (2009) and the Altazor Prize for his contribution to cinematic art (2009).
