● Burning Daddy and The Boy Girl and the Gothik Whale are the Chilean documentaries in the final editing stage selected for the Docs-in-Progress Chile & Colombia Showcase at Cannes Docs.
● Meanwhile, at the Marché du Film, a diverse documentary slate — including animated series, feature films, and emerging auteur voices — will shape Chile’s participation at the world’s leading film market.
Chilean documentary cinema will have a strong presence at the 2026 Marché du Film, the leading audiovisual industry market in the world, taking place from May 12 to 20 as part of the Cannes Film Festival in France. Chile’s participation will include projects selected for official showcases at Cannes Docs, the documentary section of the Marché du Film. A range of documentaries in development and production, international co-productions, and new creative proposals will also be presented, reflecting the diversity and international recognition currently enjoyed by Chilean non-fiction cinema.
“The presence of Chilean cinema across different sections of the Cannes Film Festival and the Marché du Film demonstrates the diversity, vitality, and competitiveness of our national audiovisual ecosystem. Those representing us are true ambassadors of our country and carriers of our cultural identity,” said Chile’s Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, Francisco Undurraga.
Meanwhile, ProChile’s Director General, Ignacio Fernández, emphasized that the space Chile has earned in international cinema “goes hand in hand with the growth of exports from companies providing services to this industry. Participating in the Marché du Film allows us not only to maintain and strengthen Chile’s presence in world cinema, but also to identify new business opportunities for these companies,” Fernández concluded.
For Chiledoc, the organization dedicated to promoting Chilean documentary talent and productions worldwide, this year once again confirms the strong reputation of Chilean non-fiction cinema. “Our documentary films generate high expectations in international markets. Proof of this are the sold-out presentations we have held at the Marché du Film and the awards received for five consecutive years at Cannes Docs. Behind this is a great deal of work and filmmakers willing to explore new narratives, delving into subjects that resonate with audiences and are therefore highly valued within the industry,” said Paula Ossandón, Director of Chiledoc.
“For the sixth consecutive year, Chiledoc arrives at the Marché du Film with a showcase of documentaries in advanced stages of editing to be presented to festival programmers, sales agents, and distributors. This time, we are partnering with Proimágenes Colombia in a joint effort to highlight new Latin American voices and narratives. The two projects representing Chile both have remarkable trajectories and excellent international potential,” added Ossandón.
“The maturity Chilean audiovisual production has reached on the international stage goes beyond individual achievements; it speaks to a diverse, collaborative creative industry deeply connected with global audiences. Every new selection, award, or presence in relevant spaces also reflects the collective work of creators, producers, and teams who continue to push Chilean stories with identity and global reach,” said Diego Rougier, President of the Chilean Association of Film and Television Producers (APCT).
A Landmark Partnership
One of the most significant milestones of this edition will be the first-ever Docs-in-Progress Chile & Colombia Showcase, organized by Chiledoc and Proimágenes Colombia within Cannes Docs. The initiative sets a precedent for regional Latin American representation within this major international documentary platform.
The creation of this joint showcase responds to a historical and creative affinity between both countries. According to Pierre-Alexis Chevit, Director of Cannes Docs, Chile and Colombia “deeply connect through their passion for creative documentary filmmaking,” highlighting both the strength of their filmmakers and the richness of their documentary traditions.
The selection brings together four projects — two Chilean and two Colombian — representing a contemporary and auteur-driven sample of Latin American documentary cinema. From Chile, the selected projects are Burning Daddy, directed by Tana Gilbert and produced by Paola Castillo, Dirk Manthey, Carolina Astudillo, and Wendy Espinal; and The Boy Girl and the Gothik Whale, directed by Sidka Saavedra and produced by Constanza Schmidt, Claudia León, and the filmmaker himself. Representing Colombia are Chilapa´s Girl and Antipodal Dreams.
Burning Daddy explores the intimate reconstruction of a father figure marked by deception and violence, using visual and digital tools that challenge the boundaries between documentary and fiction. The project marks the return of Tana Gilbert and Paola Castillo to Cannes Docs following the successful international journey of Malqueridas, previously awarded at this same platform and later recognized at Venice Critics’ Week.
Meanwhile, The Boy Girl and the Gothik Whale delves into Buenos Aires’ underground drag scene through the figure of Orka Gótika, while its director simultaneously undertakes a personal process of gender transition and identity exploration. The project has built a strong international path following its participation in IDFAcademy and DocuLab Guadalajara.
Representing Colombia are the documentaries Chilapa’s Girl, directed by Juana Lotero, and Antipodal Dreams, by Juanita Onzaga. Both projects stand out for their formal experimentation and for addressing deeply human and political experiences through sensory and auteur-driven perspectives. Chilapa’s Girl follows Yulieth over several years as she grows up in a border territory marked by machismo and violence, exploring teenage motherhood, gender violence, and state abandonment through an observational and ethnographic approach.
Meanwhile, Antipodal Dreams proposes a hybrid experience between documentary and fiction, in which a young Colombian dancer seeks to process the death of her brother, murdered during a social uprising violently repressed by the state. Through dreams, bodily memory, and collective creation, the film constructs a poetic journey connecting Colombia and Thailand, reaffirming Juanita Onzaga’s interest in exploring new cinematic forms through hybridity and formal freedom in order to engage with memory, the invisible, and political processes in the Global South.
Carlos Moreno, Director of Promotion at Proimágenes Colombia, emphasized that “both countries are committed to collaborative construction, working under the notion of a network. We share narrative forms that dialogue with one another, and this collaboration strengthens those points of encounter from a regional perspective.”
Chile in the Spanish Showcase
Chile’s presence in Cannes will also include other documentary projects. Among them is Artifacts of War, directed by Jorge Caballero and co-produced by Spain, Chile, and Colombia, selected for the Docs-in-Progress Spain Showcase. The film investigates the global circulation of “less lethal” weapons through archives, arms fairs, and forensic analysis technologies. Chilean producer Diego Pino Anguita will attend on behalf of production company Cangrejo Films.
Documentary Projects at the Market
Chilean documentary cinema will also arrive in Cannes with projects that expand the formal boundaries of the genre, incorporating animation, digital experimentation, and hybrid formats. This is the case with two productions by CUBHO Audiovisual. These include Escazú Soul, an animated documentary series directed by Nicholas Hooper and produced by Isidora Fajardo, focusing on the murders of environmental activists in Latin America; and Gondola, an animated documentary feature by Pablo Cuturrufo, produced by Isidora Fajardo, exploring digital culture, memes, and the circulation of images on the internet.
Also participating are Architects from the World, a documentary series directed by Tana Gilbert and produced by Clara Larraín and Daniela Raviola, portraying Latin American women architects developing new forms of construction linked to the territories and communities where they live; A Place of Abscence, a documentary by Marialuisa Ernst co-produced by Bolivia, the United States, and Chile, focused on migration and forced disappearance; and Pablo from Chill-e, directed by Tomás Alzamora and produced by Pablo Calisto, centered on influential Chilean urban music artist Pablo Chill-e.
Chile’s participation at the 2026 Marché du Film confirms the strengthening and international expansion of Chilean documentary cinema — a film culture that in recent years has consolidated a recognizable identity through thematic diversity, formal risk-taking, and its ability to engage with major contemporary debates from deeply local perspectives.
Chiledoc Press Contact
Natalia Raipan – periodista@ccdoc.cl
internacional@chiledoc.cl
@copyright Corporación Chilena del Documental CCDoc
