Nostalgia for The Light
Synopsis
In Chile’s Atacama Desert, astronomers peer deep into the cosmos in search for answers concerning the origins of life. Nearby, a group of women sift through the sand searching for body parts of loved ones, dumped unceremoniously by Pinochet’s regime.
Schedule
Credits
Patricio Guzmán
Patricio Guzmán was born in 1941 in Santiago de Chile. He studied at the Official School of Cinematographic Art in Madrid. He has dedicated his career to documentary cinema. His films have screened in many festivals and received international recognition. Between 1972 and 1979, he directed “The Battle of Chile”, a five-hour trilogy about Salvador Allende’s period of government and its fall. This film is the foundation of his cinema. The North American magazine CINEASTE named it one of the 10 best political films in the world. After Pinochet’s “coup d’état”, Patricio Guzmán was arrested and imprisoned for two weeks in the National Stadium, where he was repeatedly threatened by simulated executions. In 1973, he left Chile and moved to Cuba, then to Spain and France, but remained very attached to his country and its history. He presides over the International Documentary Festival in Santiago de Chile (FIDOCS), which he created in 1997.
Details
2010 - DocLisboa Film Festival
2010 - Jihlava Int'l Documentary Film Festival
2010 - Leipzig International Film Festival
2011 - Best Film, International Documentary Association (IDA)
2010 - Best Documentary, Doc/Fest Sheffield International Film Festival
2010 - Prix Chalais Winner, Cannes Film Festival
2010 - Best Documentary, Prix ARTE, European Film Academy Awards
