The Chilean smash hit Jailbreak Pact / Pacto de fuga by David Albala and starring Roberto Farías (The Club), Benjamín Vicuña (The Moneychanger), Francisca Gavilán (Violeta Went to Heaven), and Amparo Noguera (A Fantastic Woman), is having its international premiere as part of the 23rd edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival taking place in-person between July 25 and August 2.
The thriller, which was released in Chilean theaters on January 23, became an immediate box office hit and was the most successful local production of the past few years. It was recently acquired for the United States and the rest of Latin America by Amazon Prime.
Set on the night of January 29, 1990, shortly before the start of democratic transition period in Chile, dozens of political prisoners escaped from jail in Santiago through a tunnel that twenty four militants of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) had dug over the course of eighteen months, eighty meters in length and with rudimentary tools such as spoons, forks and one screwdriver. They hid fifty-five tons of dirt inside the penitentiary. Neither the common prisoners in the nearby cells, nor the prison guards who guarded daily, discovered the plan that would lead to the freedom of forty-nine prisoners in one of the most surprising and spectacular jailbreaks in Chilean criminal history.
“We are very happy that our film, which narrates the story of a group of political prisoners imprisoned in the Pinochet Dictatorship fighting for freedom in their own ways, has been selected to participate in such a prestigious festival and, moreover, in the city of Shanghai, which will host the international premiere,” says director Albala in a written statement. “For me, as a director, I am honored and proud that the film has been included in the group of films selected in the ‘Panorama,’ having three in-person screenings.”
