A los pueblos del mundo
A record of Pinochet's crimes, one of few Chilean exile films made in the US.
21'
United States
IFFR 2024
Originally, Pablo de la Barra set out to make a very different film. It was supposed to be the story of two militants, Vicente and José, who sought to support peasant movements during the government of Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva, the predecessor of Salvador Allende. Conceived as a political thriller somewhat in the style of Costa-Gavras, it was supposed to show how new forms of revolutionary organisations emerged in this period of national disintegration.
Shooting began in the summer of '73 but it was interrupted by the Tanquetazo of 29 June. The team wanted to film the events and join demonstrations against this act of aggression and so filming resumed until the putsch of 11 September. In the aftermath, production was cancelled.
Only in 1976, the materials filmed could be sent to Venezuela where de la Barra finished it in this hybrid style. The fictional material now becomes a reason to reflect on the Unidad Popular period, especially the illusions – if not outright mistakes – made by a Left unwilling to believe what their opponents were willing to and indeed would do. Queridos compañeros became one of the last exile films to begin production in Chile.
– Olaf Möller
IFFR 2024
Programme IFFR 2024
After the coup against the democratically elected government of Chile and the murder of the nation’s president, Salvador Allende, on September 11th 1973, masses of Chileans fled the country for unknown futures far away. In 1974, spearheaded by works like Sergio Castilla’s Pinochet: fascista, asesino, traidor, agente del imperialismo and Raúl Ruiz’s Dialogue d’exilés, a historically unique phenomenon started to take shape: a Chilean cinema in exile. The vast majority of Chile’s film culture had left and were now living spread across different nations, this included already established auteurs like Patricio Guzmán (The Battle Of Chile (Part 1): The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie), Miguel Littin (Actas de Marusia) and Helvio Soto (La triple muerte del tercer personaje) as well as film students like Sebastián Alarcón (Night Over Chile), Leo Mendoza (Reír o no reír) or Luis Mora (Night of the Captain). Remarkably enough, the resulting production forms a coherent whole: it continues the Chilean cinema of the Unidad Popular, and protests against the fascism at home – while often presenting Chile as but an example for the forms of oppression and terrorism found all over the world. In an age where ever more filmmakers are forced into exile and whole communities are violently displaced, IFFR presents a grand overview of the phenomenon on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. We’ll present some twenty-five features and shorts covering the first decade of production in exile, mixing established classics with shorts and television works hardly seen since their original presentation.
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Read more about this programmeA record of Pinochet's crimes, one of few Chilean exile films made in the US.
21'
United States
IFFR 2024
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110'
Mexico
IFFR 2024
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80'
West Germany
IFFR 2024