Master Chilean documentarian Patricio Guzmán (pictured) released a public letter today addressed to the executive director of TVN (Televisión Nacional de Chile), a state-owned Chilean TV station, speaking out against the distorted broadcasting of his internationally critically acclaimed documentary Nostalgia de la luz / Nostalgia for the Light.
The filmmaker claims in his letter to TVN's Mauro Valdés that the film was severely re-edited and cut down during its broadcast last Sunday, July 28. He proceeds to explain how the film began to air without its opening credits or introduction, leaving many viewers in the dark about what they were watching. The film also began 35 minutes in, with a mess of clips, some which were repeated twice. "Not only is it a violation of moral rights and the authorship of a filmmaker...but this is also a grave act of denial of Chile's history," wrote Guzmán adding that much of the film denounces the crimes of the dictatorship and features many people who were victims of repression.
In Nostalgia for the Light (pictured right), Guzmán travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert, where atop the mountains astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars. The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners; and the remains of political prisoners, “disappeared” by the Chilean army after the military coup of September, 1973. So while astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, women, surviving relatives of the disappeared whose bodies were dumped here, search, even after twenty-five years, for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families’ histories.
According to the local Chilean press, TVN executive director offered written apologies immediately to Guzmán claiming "technical problems" in the broadcasting but not an act of sabotage. He also mentioned the documentary would be broadcasted once again on August 24.
TVN had also recently been involved in another controversy as TropicalFRONT had previously reported, the TV station had pulled from broadcasting Ignacio Agüero's documentary El diario de Agustín / Agustín's Newspaper whichfocuses on Agustín Edwards, owner of leading Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, and his ties to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship and its abuse.
Click here to read Guzmán's letter (in Spanish).
By Diego Molano
Pablo Delgado Sánchez, a newcomer to LatinBeat, presented his film Las lágrimas. The film, Delgado’s graduation project, recounts two brothers, Fernando and Gabriel, their cathartic journey while on a camping trip, and their struggle to cope with the dysfunction surrounding their family. The other film of the evening was Tanta agua (pictured below) directed by the duo of Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, featured the co-operation of Mexican and Uruguayan talent. Chronicling the rained-out vacation of divorced father Alberto and his two children Lucia and Federico, this family trip/coming-of-age hybrid discusses the father-daughter dynamic.
The non-traditional forms of funding used by each film made them unique. As Delgado’s final project in film school, the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica financed Las lágrimas. With this financial backing, he was free to attempt a much more experimental approach to his filmmaking. "I wanted to make the film as organic as possible. It wasn’t made with a traditional script – more of an outline.“ Despite the fact that Tanta agua had the good fortune to be financed by the production team winning a large grant, and the support of a collective from both Mexico and Uruguay. "In our first draft of the script we moved ahead even though we didn’t have the money. We would be shooting far away from home, with special effects, and it was fine." While the written script was not as flexible as the one Delgado shot, it too changed based on the interaction of the actors. "We changed certain things based on how the actors interacted." The organic approaches enriched audience interaction, and was another point shared by these films.
Dysfunctional child-rearing and wayward vacations. The overwhelming awkwardness of adolescence and bonds of family. These shared themes transcend borders, presenting the yin and yang of life. These featured directors have not only. Furthermore, there is an underlying courage, a willingness to attempt unusual approaches to filmmaking, and to work with budgets smaller than those considered necessary for feature films. Many questions remain to be answered – can these small, claustrophobic films continue to push the filmmaking envelope? Will these filmmakers flourish with different founding sources? Both films close on optimistic yet unresolved terms, leaving an audience to further ponder these bright examples of contemporary Latin American cinema – excellent additions to the Latinbeat lineup.
The Mexican film El alcalde / The Mayor (pictured) by Emiliano Altuna, Carlos Rossini and Diego Enrique Osorno, has been selected for the documentary sidebar of the Toronto Film Festival. The film is the only Latin American documentary film in TIFF Docs this year.
Some Latino talent is looking to the heavens to high box office receipts as three big budget films will fill the multiplex in the next coming weeks. First at bat is the documentary-style science fiction thriller Europa Report (pictured left) directed by Ecuadorean filmmaker Sebastián Cordero (Crónicas, Rabia) and which opens in select theaters this Friday, August 2 released by Magnolia Pictures. 
Cordero's English-language directorial debut also features other Latino talent in its cast and crew, including actor Christian Camargo, D.P. Enrique Chediak and production designer Eugenio Caballero.
The third outer space film is Mexican director's Alfonso Cuarón's long anticipated new film Gravity (pictured left) starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, which will have its world premiere as opening night of the 70th edition of the Venice Film Festival and will be released in the United States on October 4 by Warner Brothers.
Two Latin American films received awards at the 34th edition of the Durban Film Festival in South Africa: Chilean actress Paulina García (pictured), protagonist of Sebastián Lelio's Gloria received the prize for Best Actress (ex aequo with Canadian actress Suzanne Clement); while Matías Penachino received the prize for Best Cinematography for the Mexican film Halley, the directorial debut of Sebastián Hofmann. 
Exactly thirty years ago, on July 29,1983, Spanish-born Mexican filmmaker Luis Buñuel died in his house in Mexico City at the age of 83. One of the most cherished filmmakers in the history of cinema, Buñuel worked in France, Spain and in Mexico making over 30 feature films, some of which have been included in the top best films of all time. 
