In his first feature, Niles Atallah sketches a sensitive portrait of Lucía, a young seamstress who lives with her father Luis in an old house in the Chilean capital, Santiago. The film focuses on the relationship with her unemployed, physically degenerating father. It’s important to know it is set in December 2006, in the period between the funeral of the former dictator Pinochet and Christmas.
In the reporting on Pinochet, we learn about an acquaintance of Lucía and Luis, a doctor who is suspected of torture during the dictatorship. A gift that Lucía gets for Christmas takes her back to her childhood; when she was still unconcerned and her father was more alive.
The film subtly shows how powerfully the past affects the lives of Lucía and Luis and just how much Chilean history is interwoven with the present. Atallah occasionally uses the stop-motion animation techniques he previously used in short animation films.
Film details
- Country of production
- Chile
- Year
- 2010
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2010
- Length
- 80'
- Medium/Format
- HDcam
