March 17, 2011
Americas Society

Presented in partnership with Americas Society

Legendary Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán engages in a conversation with Gabriela Rangel (Director of Visual Arts, Americas Society) and Carlos A. Gutiérrez (Co-Founder and Director, Cinema Tropical) on the subject of Guzmán's documentary practice and his most recent film Nostalgia for the Light, winner of the prize as Best Documentary at the European Film Academy Award.

Patricio Guzmán was born in Santiago, Chile. He studied documentary filmmaking while attending the Official Cinematography School in Madrid. Guzmán is renowned for his long and impressive career as a documentary filmmaker, most notably for his film La batalla de Chile, a four and 1/2 hour documentary on the end of Salvador Allende's government. The film was nominated by Cineaste magazine as "one of the ten best political films in the world." Guzmán is founder and director of the International Documentary Festival of Santiago (FIDOCS). He also currently teaches documentary film classes in Europe and Latin America. For more information on Patricio Guzmán click here.

Nostalgia for the Light. For his new film Guzmán travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest desert on earth for this remarkable documentary. Here, the sky is so translucent that it allows astronomers to see the boundaries of our universe. Yet the Atacama Desert climate also keeps human remains intact: pre-Columbian mummies; explorers and miners; and the remains of disappeared political prisoners. Women sift the desert soil for the bones of their loved ones, while archaeologists uncover traces of ancient civilizations and astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies. Melding celestial and earthly quests, Nostalgia for the Light is a gorgeous, moving, and deeply personal odyssey. For more information on the film click here.

Special thanks to Icarus Films, Jonathan Miller, Livia Bloom, and Sumie García.