Fresh from its successful New York premiere at New Directors/New Films, Kino Lorber is proud to announce the North American theatrical release of Chile ’76 (1976), the stunning and auspicious debut feature by Chilean actor and filmmaker Manuela Martelli.
After a celebrated run on the international festival circuit, including its World Premiere at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Chile ’76 opens on Friday, May 5, at Film at Lincoln Center and the IFC Center in New York City and on Friday, May 19, at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles, followed by a national rollout.
Set during the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, Chile ’76 builds from a quiet character study to a gripping suspense thriller as it explores one woman’s precarious flirtation with political engagement. Carmen (Aline Kuppenheim) leads a sheltered upper-middle-class existence. The story unfolds as she heads to her summer house in the off-season to supervise its renovation, where her husband, children, and grandchildren visit on and off, 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.
Martelli explores Pinochet’s dictatorship through the lens of an elegant and prosperous woman, who is inadvertently drawn into the anti-Pinochet resistance. Kuppenheim delivers a razor-sharp performance that embodies the suffocating and often paralyzing environment of the Pinochet era, and will leave audiences on the edge of their seats. With impeccable cinematography by Yarará Rodríguez, as well as a daring and effective musical score by Mariá Portugal, this Hitchcockian noir bristles with suspense and slowly builds towards a tense and thrilling climax.
Chile ‘76 marks Martelli—who built a strong career as an actress working with acclaimed filmmakers including Andrés Wood (Machuca), Gonzalo Justiniano (B-Happy), Sebastián Lelio (Navidad), Martín Rejtman (Two Shots Fired), and Alicia Scherson (Il Futuro)—as a promising director with chops for genre who stands out from the wave of female filmmakers that have come out of Chile in recent years, including Dominga Sotomayor (who also serves as producer of Chile ’76), Maite Alberdi, and Francisca Alegría.
