Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, director of documentaries including "Nostalgia for the Light" and "The Pearl Button," died on Tuesday in Paris at the age of 85, Chile's Academy of Cinema announced.
Guzmán, regarded by his peers as a master of documentary filmmaking, had lived in France for more than four decades. He directed more than two dozen films over his career, the majority of them documentaries.
The Battle of Chile trilogy
Among his best-known work is "The Battle of Chile" (1975-1979), a trilogy chronicling the years of the Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973) and the political destabilization that culminated in the coup against Allende and the rise to power of Augusto Pinochet. Guzmán had to smuggle the film out of Chile clandestinely after the military dictatorship (1973-1990) was installed.
According to the news agency Efe, the film became the most widely distributed Latin American documentary in history and a landmark work of political documentary filmmaking worldwide. The trilogy is made up of "The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie" (1975), "The Coup d'État" (1976) and "Popular Power" (1979).
Its survival was helped by French filmmaker Chris Marker, director of "La Jetée," who assisted in gathering Guzmán's filmed material in Europe and supported the editing and distribution of the work.
A 25-title filmography
Efe described the "Battle of Chile" trilogy as the crown jewel of a filmography spanning 25 titles, alongside works such as "Nostalgia for the Light" (2010), which brought Guzmán worldwide recognition and numerous awards.
Guzmán turned to documentary filmmaking after an early career that included collaborations with the film institute of Chile's Pontifical Catholic University and the short film "Long Live Freedom" (1965), an animation that used the metaphor of a zoo to represent a prison. His feature debut, "The First Year" (1972), depicted the start of Allende's government and paved the way for "The Battle of Chile."
Nostalgia for the Light and later work
"Nostalgia for the Light," filmed in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, combines the perspective of astronomers searching for the origins of the universe with the search by the women of Calama for the remains of relatives who disappeared during the dictatorship.
That film was followed by "The Pearl Button" (2015), which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, and "The Cordillera of Dreams" (2019), which won the Goya for Best Ibero-American Film as well as the L'Oeil d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Both films explore memory, the Chilean dictatorship and its impact on families through the lens of the country's landscape.
During his exile in Spain and France, Guzmán also made "In the Name of God" (1987), about the role of the Chilean Catholic Church in the final phase of the dictatorship, as well as "The Obstinate Memory" (1997), "The Pinochet Case" (2001) and "Salvador Allende" (2004).
Guzmán's ties to Portugal
His films have been shown in Portugal at festivals including DocLisboa and IndieLisboa, and "Nostalgia for the Light," "The Pearl Button" and "The Cordillera of Dreams" have had theatrical distribution there, with "The Cordillera of Dreams" also available on the streaming platform Filmin. Several of his films have also been released on DVD in the country.
Guzmán's final feature, "My Imaginary Country" (2022), is due to premiere in Portugal on October 15 through distributor Midas Filmes. The film examines the social unrest that erupted in Chile in 2019 and the proposal to replace the country's Pinochet-era constitution, a process debated during the government of former president Gabriel Boric (2022-2026).
Awards and recognition
In 2023, Guzmán received Chile's National Prize for Performing and Audiovisual Arts. His other major honors include the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and Best Documentary prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and the European Film Awards.
