● Aliyá, Yeridá, Unwelcomed, The Stationary Traveller, and Returning Where I Have Never Been are the documentary projects in the final editing stage that will participate in the Chilean Showcase of Cannes Docs at the Marché du Film.
● Additionally, a portfolio of documentaries addressing gender, indigenous peoples, climate change, teenage suicide, and true crime will also be showcased by the Chilean documentary delegation at the French market.
Catalog Chilean Documentaries at Marché du Film 2024
For the fourth time, Chile will be one of the countries participating in Cannes Docs, the Marché du Film documentary section, presenting four projects in the Work in Progress stage. These will provide an overview of national production to festivals, distributors, sales agents, and other international industry representatives.
Raúl Vilches, the Head of the Department of Creative Industries at ProChile, commented on Chile’s participation in this prominent film event: «Chile will once again be present at one of the most significant events in the global audiovisual industry. Our delegation will bring relevant projects, including feature films, short films, documentaries, and animations. Chile’s ongoing presence at the Marché du Film underscores the importance of this event for positioning the Chilean audiovisual industry at both European and global levels. It also highlights our efforts to coordinate with both public and private sectors to showcase and promote the work of our industry.»
Marché du Film will take place from May 14 to 22, and the project’s presentation will occur on Monday, May 20, from 10 to 11.15 AM, in Lerins 4, at the Palais des Festivals. The Head of Cannes Docs, Pierre-Alexis Chevit, celebrated the presence of the Chilean documentary sector in this industry space: «As always, it’s a great pleasure to welcome at Cannes Docs four Chilean docs-in-progress, as well as one additional Chilean project from Conecta 2023. So, it’s going to be a great Chilean delegation this year! The Chilean documentary ecosystem is truly remarkable—artistically vibrant, politically engaged, and creatively diverse—and passionately supported by the organizations in charge of its global promotion, starting with Chiledoc. Long live Chilean documentary!»
The Docs-In-Progress Chile Showcase will boost the search for financing and distribution opportunities for the works presented there. «We arrive at Cannes Docs with four projects in the Work in Progress stage, showcasing the diversity of Chilean production, both in thematic and aesthetic terms. These include immigration in northern Chile; a young woman returning to Patagonia to value her Selk’nam identity; a Jewish family questioning their connection with the State of Israel; and a legendary filmmaker embarking on an extravagant project. All fascinating stories that touch on timely and creative themes,» comments Paula Ossandón, director of Chiledoc.
Meanwhile, CinemaChile, the sector brand representing Chilean cinema for the past 15 years, will oversee a delegation of producers attending the Marché du Film. They have outlined their primary goals for this market: «In this edition, CinemaChile has formed a partnership with Spotlight Asia, which aligns with our strategy to diversify our efforts internationally. There is an exceptional audiovisual movement in Asia, and we cannot afford to overlook one of the most dynamic markets currently. Our alliance with Cannes is crucial as it will facilitate the entry of Chilean producers into this market. This partnership will allow Chilean production companies to access Asia’s largest platform for funding and financing. Along with connecting with funds and festivals, they will have the opportunity to meet with fellow producers and explore potential collaborations,» comments Alexandra Galvis, Co-coordinator of CinemaChile and Vice President of APCT.
The selected projects are:
Aliyá, Yeridá | Directed by Rafael Guendelman and produced by Joaquín Echeverría | Production company house @brisafilms.
Synopsis
Aliyá in Hebrew means to go up, referring to immigration to Israel; Yeridá, the opposite, means to descend, referring to emigrating from Israel. Using family archives, the director explores his family’s motivations for emigrating to Israel in the 1970s and the disappointments that led to their return to Chile decades later.
«We are at a crucial stage to fulfill our goal of premiering during the first semester of 2025 after securing funding for post-production and having advanced editing. At Cannes Docs, we aim to establish connections with programmers and distributors interested in political and migration narratives. We seek to reflect on the armed conflict in the Middle East from a Latin American perspective,» says Joaquín Echeverría, the project’s producer.
Unwelcomed | Si vas para Chile | Co-directed by Amilcar Infante and Sebastián González, and co-produced by Sebastián González and Esteban Sandoval | Production company house @amilcar_films and @pejeperrofilms.
Synopsis
In 2021, northern Chile witnessed one of the most newsworthy anti-immigration demonstrations in the country, highlighting the lack of control of its supporters, with incidents such as burning tents, baby strollers, and belongings of families. These images traveled around the world, but not the stories of those affected. This choral account is the living testimony of those who continue to enter Chile despite the adversities, as well as the inhabitants of the territory who live amid a growing social conflict and the harshness of the Atacama Desert.
Sebastian Gonzalez, the producer of this project, says: «We are very excited and happy with the news of being part of the Chilean Showcase and presenting our project at Cannes Docs at the Marché du Film. It is a source of pride and a great opportunity to make our debut feature film visible on the international stage, seeking to raise the necessary financing and partnerships to finish the film and start working on the next premiere.»
The Stationary Traveller | Viajero inmóvil | Co-directed by Fernando Lavanderos and Sebastián Pereira, and produced by Francisco Hervé | Production company house @juntos_films.
Synopsis
Two young filmmakers approach Cristián Sánchez (70), a legendary cult Chilean filmmaker, to propose that he make a new film. They impose specific rules on him: the movie has to be about zombies, and he must resurrect characters from his most classic films. The experiment has a purpose. Our documentary is a kind of making-of of Sanchez’s film. What is sought is to put in tension, with humor and spectacle, the need for efficiency of today’s culture versus the relaxed tranquility of the 70s that Sánchez’s cinema so beautifully knew how to represent.
«To participate in the Marché du Film and also in the Showcase is an invaluable opportunity for our film. It is the first time we will show a preview of what has been a work of many years. This is a unique instance, not only in terms of visibility—being one of the largest markets in the world—but also as an opportunity to generate networks for this and the other projects in our portfolio,» says Francisco Hervé.
Returning Where I Have Never Been | Vuelvo donde nunca estuve | Co-directed by Constanza Vásquez and Andrés Morales, and co-produced by Alejandra Rosas and Magdalena Ponce | Production company house @tonina_sur and Quetro Producciones.
Synopsis
Two journeys that take place a century apart. In 1895, a group of 165 Selk’nam people was captured on the island of Tierra del Fuego and forcibly sent to the city of Punta Arenas to be handed over for domestic service to settler families. In 2021, Fernanda Olivares, a Selk’nam descendant, is the first of her community to return to live in the territory of her ancestors after the genocide to demonstrate that her people are not extinct.
Constanza Vásquez tells us, «Our documentary seeks to spread what the Selk’nam people have been working on for some time: to communicate to the world that they are not an extinct people and that they seek to give a new beginning to their history in their ancestral territory. We feel that Cannes Docs is a significant opportunity to take big steps towards that goal.»
In previous editions of this industry activity, long-time documentary filmmakers such as Ignacio Agüero with Notes for a Film and Maite Alberdi with The Mole Agent have participated.
The list of films that have been awarded is also prolific. Last year, Life won the Think-Film Award, which included a workshop and communications consultancy on impact campaigns. In 2022, Malqueridas won the Alpha Panda Award for digital marketing consultancy, and in 2021, Meeting Point received the VOSTAO Award for subtitling its film once it was completed.
More Chilean projects arrive at MDF
The production company Pejeperro Films, represented by Cons Gallardo and Esteban Sandoval, director, and producer of In the Search for the Other, respectively, will be part of the Chilean documentary delegation at Cannes Docs. This project, in the post-production stage, received this double accreditation for the market as a prize awarded at Conecta 2023, an international documentary industry meeting aimed at linking Latin American projects with industry representatives from around the world, held in December in Santiago, Chile.
In the Search for the Other arises from the resistance to gender roles that led Cons Gallardo to explore the story of Machi Marcelina, a Mapuche ancestral authority unjustly accused of murder and witchcraft in 1995. After her release, she faced the prejudices of her community and distanced herself. Today, it mobilizes Cons through reflections on good, evil, and the possibility of loving beyond stigmas.
The producers María Ignacia Court from Mucha Media and Carola Fuentes from La Ventana Cine, with their respective portfolios of projects, will also attend the film market.
From Mucha Media, their immersive reality proposals Going Back Home Mother VR and Underwater Antarctic VR stand out. The former aims to immerse us in the complex issue of mothers deprived of liberty, while the latter addresses the very contingent issue of climate change through an exploration journey of underwater biodiversity in Antarctica, the changes it has managed to adapt to, and the irreversible consequences it has suffered.
La Ventana Cine is actively working on several projects this year. One of them is I Don’t Want To Say Goodbye, which delves into the tragic suicide of a Chilean teenager in a Starbucks bathroom, shedding light on the damaging effects of cyberbullying and school harassment. Another project in their portfolio is Letelier File, a documentary series based on the assassination of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier, which is analyzed and investigated through the perspective of a journalist born on the same day as the attack on the former Chilean ambassador to the United States.
From Valparaíso to France
ProChile and the Regional Government of Valparaíso, through the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness, invited Chilean companies from the Valparaíso region, belonging to the Audiovisual sector, to participate in the “Marché Du Film Trade Mission”, within the framework of the Cannes Film Festival. From this process, three production companies were chosen, two of which produce non-fiction works: Totoral Films & Media Lab and Reinos Cine.
Totoral Films & Media Lab is showcasing two projects from its portfolio. The first, Tantas Nenas, is a co-production between Chile and Colombia, directed and produced by Kamila Veliz, Pepe Rovano, and Diana Pérez, which portrays the heartfelt farewell of a daughter to her terminally ill mother with cancer. The second, Bastardo, a co-production between Chile, Italy, and Sweden directed by Pepe Rovano and produced by Kamila Veliz, Stefano Tealdi, Andreas Rocksen, and Catalina Donoso, explores the relationship between a man and his biological father, a convict for crimes against humanity, whom he only met at the age of 35.
Finally, the production company Reinos Cine presents its projects Arrau and Liga Andina. The latter, directed by Macarena Denisse and Michael Quezada and produced by Daniel Rebolledo, focuses on how women of all ages from the city with the worst quality of life in Chile organize themselves to break away from work and domestic routines.
Arrau is a historical documentary series directed by Cristian Vega and produced by Daniel Rebolledo and Macarena Denisse. It explores the relationship between human beings and music through the life and work of the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau León.
About Chiledoc
Chiledoc promotes Chilean documentary talents and their films and series worldwide. Our commitment lies in fostering the sector’s expansion through strategic promotion, creating and strengthening networks, and promoting associative practices. We are a collective force.
Chiledoc is a public-private partnership between ProChile, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Chilean Documentary Corporation CCDoc.
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Natalia Raipan
periodista@ccdoc.cl
internacional@chiledoc.cl
@copyright Corporación Chilena del Documental CCDoc
