Tiger #6: Rey - Niles Atallah

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In 1860, the French adventurer Orélie-Antoine de Tounens founded the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia. Things ended badly for the country. A century and a half later, this self-declared king will be granted the stage at International Film Festival Rotterdam, thanks to director Niles Atallah (1978).

We see a bearded Frenchman riding a horse, holding a flag. It's Orélie-Antoine de Tounens who is beating a path through the forests of southern Chile and Argentina. There his crown awaits, his independent kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia. He aims to fight for autonomy alongside the indigenous people, the Mapuche.

Chilean-American director Niles Atallah heard this incredible story whilst travelling through the (now) Argentinian region of Patagonia. The eccentric lawyer from the Dordogne intrigued him. He started reading his letters, books and eye-witness accounts of the 19th-century adventure. All this culminated in a major film and research project. Director Atallah worked on Rey for seven years. The film makes audiences think about history, not just that of Chile, but all history.

Psychologically unhinged

In Chilean history the adventurous Frenchman is viewed as psychologically unhinged. The king had a flag and a national anthem, he wrote a constitution and even appointed ministers. De Tounens was arrested, thrown in prison, hauled before a judge, convicted and then deported.

However, the letters he wrote to people in France paint an entirely different picture says Atallah. "In his correspondence the calculating lawyer promises his countrymen a colony he will call 'New France'. The area three times the size of the motherland was full of mineral wealth. As far as he’s concerned, the Mapuche can continue to live there." 

In Rey, Atallah doubts everything. He views history as a performance, a creation, a process of decay. "You can’t trust historical sources, you can’t write clear, unequivocal history. No one knows what De Tounens really thought. Perhaps he was lying. And don’t forget, context erodes, language and meaning change and memories fade."

Virgin territory

Unfortunately, no one recorded the Mapuche’s take on things. "The indigenous inhabitants never chose to be part of Chile," explains Atallah. "They were subdued, they don’t feel part of this country. It’s the same in Patagonia. That's even bigger than Araucanía and is home to large numbers of people who don’t want to be part of Argentina."

"We should be much more aware of how our country developed. Many of our ancestors are still viewed as heroes. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived, they occupied 'virgin' territory. Not many indigenous people lived there, they said."

"That is a falsehood though,” says Atallah. “How do we deal with our violent history today? I consider that a major problem, not just in Chile, but around the globe."

Prehistoric films

Rey is an archival construct. There are no images of De Tounens so Atallah sought out "films that felt old" at the EYE Film Museum in Amsterdam. There he encountered thousands of films from cinema’s early history from 1890 through to the beginning of the 20th century. "Cinema’s prehistory!"

Atallah also created his own, fictional archives. "I wanted to recreate the process of decay. And that takes time. I filmed in South America, projected excerpts and re-filmed these, played with negative and positive prints, 16 mm, 35 mm. The images have a poetic relationship with the film."

Military dictatorship

Working in Chile is complicated says the filmmaker. He is a relative outsider and grew up in California with an American mother and Chilean father. He moved to Santiago de Chile for love when he was 25. Atallah: "Naturally Chile’s dictatorship is long gone. You can make films about it, people are no longer afraid to talk. However, the military dictatorship (1973 - 1990) has a legacy. People were killed or exiled. Film, music and culture were destroyed wholesale."

"Chile's history was re-written and this makes it hard for the younger generation to come into contact with their own history. There’s a definite fault line between generations. Only after a dictatorship does it truly become clear how much history serves those in power."

Second feature film

Atallah's first feature film Lucía (2010) was also screened in Rotterdam as part of the Bright Future programme. "A very small film that received a wonderful reception." For his second feature Rey, Atallah received support from, among others, IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund.

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