Presented by Icarus Films and Cinema Tropical
September 7—15, 2023 in New York City
Anthology Film Archives, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and the IFC Center
Master documentarian Patricio Guzmán (b. 1941) has documented the tumultuous political history of his native Chile for over fifty years. From the democratically elected socialist government of President Salvador Allende in the early seventies to the US-backed coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, and more recently to the social uprising that opened the door for the rewriting of a new constitution, Guzmán has served as a witness and chronicler of the history of the South American nation. His commitment to filming the lived history of his country for more than 50 years is unprecedented in world cinema.
This September 11th marks the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup led by General Pinochet and his army, which drastically changed the history of Chile and Latin America. To mark the occasion, Icarus Films and Cinema Tropical are proud to announce a special film series in New York City celebrating the work of the influential and lauded Chilean director and his five-decade career.
In addition to the screenings, the series will also feature special conversations and Q&As with invited guests to discuss the international relevance of Guzmán’s filmography, and specific issues around history, memory, cinema, and the current state of Chilean politics and society.
Full Program:
THE FIRST YEAR / EL PRIMER AÑO
(Patricio Guzmán, Chile, 1972, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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Documenting the initial 12 months of Allende’s government, The First Year is a fascinating work within Patricio Guzmán’s filmography precisely for having been made prior to the coup. Produced when he was only 31 years old and newly returned to his native Chile following his studies in Madrid, it’s the film of a young man bursting with energy, creativity, and a passionate enthusiasm for the unprecedented political and social transformation taking place before his eyes: a constitutional, legal, and nonviolent Socialist revolution that would prove so threatening to the established power structure that it would soon resort to brute force to quash it. Completed while reactionary forces were mobilizing, but before the coup, The First Year is suffused with a degree of hope and possibility that, in retrospect, makes the later films all the more moving and powerful. The film was released in 1972 in Chile, as well as in France (where Chris Marker produced a French-language version), and Guzmán later incorporated parts of it into Salvador Allende (2004). But with most of the prints lost or destroyed following the coup, it’s only thanks to a difficult and time-consuming restoration project that the film is now finally available again. This overdue U.S. theatrical release provides an invaluable opportunity to witness the genesis of Guzmán’s body of work, and to gain insight into a critical period in Chilean history.
September 8-15 at Anthology Film Archives, 6:45pm and 9pm nightly
* Chilean visual artist Cecilia Vicuña will be in conversation with scholar Florencia San Martín following the opening night screening at 6:45pm on 9/8 at Anthology Film Archives. An on-site small reception sponsored by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University will follow.
THE BATTLE OF CHILE, PART I & II: THE INSURRECTION OF THE BOURGEOISIE AND THE COUP D’ETAT / LA BATALLA DE CHILE, PARTE I y II: LA INSURRECCIÓN DE LA BURGESÍA Y EL GOLPE DE ESTADO
(Patricio Guzmán, Chile/Cuba/France, 1975, 184 min., plus intermission. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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When Patricio Guzmán began filming political unrest in the streets of Santiago in 1972, he had no idea he would capture the destruction of his country’s democracy on film. Widely considered one of the greatest documentaries of all time, parts one and two of The Battle of Chile give a real-time, on-the-ground account of the events surrounding General Augusto Pinochet’s bloody, US-backed coup. Across nine months, Guzmán captures the escalation of right-wing opposition from the polls to the streets, culminating in socialist President Salvador Allende’s last radio messages to the people of Chile and the military assault on the presidential palace. Fifty years later, BAM presents all three parts of this rarely screened masterpiece about one of the watershed events of the 20th century, meticulously restored for the first time.
THE BATTLE OF CHILE PART III: POPULAR POWER /
LA BATALLA DE CHILE PARTE III: EL PODER POPULAR
(Patricio Guzman, 1979, Chile/Cuba/France, 78 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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Part three of Patricio Guzmán’s landmark documentary takes place prior to the 1973 coup d'état depicted in parts one and two. Turning his camera to the action on the ground, Guzmán focuses on the working-class Chileans who galvanize to distribute food, operate factories, and reclaim the means of production in the face of widespread factory lockouts by the bourgeoisie. In his fervent final installment—now vividly restored—Guzmán contextualizes the explosive violence of parts one and two by charting the class struggles and collective action that preceded it.
September 8-14 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
*Saturday, September 9, 5:15pm screening: Conversation with filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís and scholar Bernardita Llanos
SALVADOR ALLENDE
(Patricio Guzmán, France/Belgium/ Germany, 2004, 100 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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A leftist revolutionary or a reformist democrat? A committed Marxist or a constitutionalist politician? An ethical and moral man or, as Richard Nixon called him, a “son of a bitch”? In Salvador Allende, Guzmán returns to his native country thirty years after the 1973 military coup that overthrew Chile’s Popular Unity government to examine the life of its leader, Salvador Allende, both as a politician and a man. Through archival footage and eyewitness and participant accounts, the film re-creates the military assault on the Moneda, Allende’s last radio broadcast to the people of Chile, and rare photos and footage documenting the final actions of Allende and his staff on that day, including his suicide. Guzmán's personalized voice-over commentary provides a compelling narrative thread for this political biography, one which, in his attempt to understand the impact of Allende on his own life and his nation’s political history, also serves to illuminate this controversial and inspirational public figure for an international audience.
Thursday, September 7, 7pm and Saturday & Sunday, September 9 & 10, 4:15pm
NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT / NOSTALGIA DE L A LUZ
(Patricio Guzmán, France/Germany/Chile, 2011, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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Patricio Guzmán’s film is a meditation on memory, history and eternity. Chile’s remote Atacama Desert, 10,000 feet above sea level, provides stunningly clear views of the heavens. But it also holds secrets from the past—preserved corpses, from pre-Columbian mummies to recent explorers, miners and disappeared political prisoners. In this otherworldly place, earthly and celestial quests meld: archaeologists dig for ancient civilizations, women search for their dead and astronomers scan the skies for new galaxies.
Wednesday, September 13, 6:30pm at the IFC Center
* Introduction by scholar Elízabeth Ramírez-Soto.
THE PEARL BUTTON / EL BOTÓN DE NÁCAR
(Patricio Guzmán, Chile/France/Spain, 2014, 88 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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After contemplating the heavens in Nostalgia for the Light, Guzmán turns his masterful eye to the ocean to uncover the history of the indigenous people of Patagonia. In pre-colonial times, the nomadic Kaweskar (or “water people”) lived and thrived in harmony with the sea; today they have all but vanished. Interviewing the last of the Kaweskar, Guzma´n chronicles the terrible devastation wrought by this almost complete genocide, discovering an unsettling parallel to the thousands who were disappeared by more recent regimes.
THE CORDILLERA OF DREAMS / LA CORDILLERA DE LOS SUEÑOS
(Patricio Guzmán, France/Chile, 2019, 102 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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An exploration of identity, history and landscape by acclaimed Chilean director Patricio Guzmán. In his latest philosophical act of cinematic self-reflection, the Andean Cordillera mountain range becomes an ark where the most important poetic laws are stored, containing the ruins of the director’s childhood memories and the acts of police brutality and civil resistance that happened under Pinochet’s dictatorship. Spectacular aerial images bring us into the Cordillera and the troubled history it continues to witness.
MY IMAGINARY COUNTRY / MI PAÍS IMAGINARIO
(Patricio Guzmán, Chile/France, 2022, 83 min. In Spanish with English subtitles)
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One day, without warning, a revolution exploded. It was the event that master documentarian Patricio Guzmán had been waiting for all his life: a million and a half people in the streets of Santiago, Chile, demanding justice, education, health care, and a new constitution to replace the strident rules imposed on the country during the Pinochet military dictatorship. Urgent and inspired, My Imaginary Country features harrowing front-line protest footage and interviews with dynamic activist leaders and powerfully connects Chile’s complex, bloody history to contemporary revolutionary social movements and the election of a new president.
