From Emerging Voices to Established Filmmakers: Chile’s Strong Presence at Europe’s Most Important Documentary Festival
● Among the highlights of Chile’s participation at IDFA this year is Blue Silence (Silencio Azul), by young filmmaker Matías Rojas Ruz, which will have its world premiere in the International Short Film Competition, followed by Letters to My Dead Parents (Cartas a mis padres muertos) by Ignacio Agüero and Invisible Life (Vida Invisible) by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff in the Signed section; and Dead Tongue (Lengua Muerta) by José Jiménez in Best of Fests.
● Two emerging Chilean filmmakers—Sidka Saavedra and José Jiménez—were selected for the IDFAcademy program. In addition, Ignacio Agüero will serve as a juror for the Envision Competition. “Chile arrives at IDFA with a vibrant and diverse presence that celebrates both new voices and master documentarians, reaffirming the creative strength and international recognition of our cinema,” says Flor Rubina, Deputy Director of Chiledoc.
CHILEAN FILMS AND PROJECTS AT IDFA
From November 13 to 27, the 38th edition of IDFA, the largest and most important documentary festival in Europe, will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. At this key global meeting point for the nonfiction industry, Chile will stand out for the diversity of voices and career paths represented within its delegation, which includes a group supported by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage through its program for participation in international markets.
With its diverse, innovative, and artistically rich focus, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has consolidated itself as a key platform for showcasing new voices and perspectives in documentary filmmaking. “We are pleased to accompany the Chilean delegation at IDFA, one of the world’s most prestigious and competitive nonfiction events, which opens doors and highlights the creative strength of Chilean documentary cinema,” says Rubina.
In the project market, around a dozen documentaries in various stages of development and formats will be represented by their filmmakers. “As a Chilean delegation, we stand out for our documentary production marked by consistency, thematic diversity, and a constant search for formal innovation. IDFA and its market provide the ideal environment to share this creative vitality and strengthen ties with professionals from around the world gathered in Amsterdam around documentary cinema,” Rubina adds.
WORLD PREMIERE
Off the coast of Manquemapu, Chile, buried beneath indifferent waves, lies the wreck of the Janequeo. The ship sank in 1965, claiming 51 lives. Though the sea swallowed the wreckage, on land the memory of the tragedy lives on—both among the people and in the landscape.
Blue Silence (Silencio Azul) does not attempt to reconstruct this story. With a haunting sound design and analog footage whose colors have faded or oversaturated, the film explores the memories of local residents—recollections worn away and eroded by time and saltwater.
For its director, Matías Rojas Ruz, “Receiving the news of the selection was truly beautiful, almost unbelievable. It felt like closing a chapter and, in a way, fulfilling a promise to my team to premiere Blue Silence someday. Being part of such a prestigious festival is already a great recognition, but it’s also an opportunity to connect with other filmmakers, learn from their experiences, and strengthen my own perspective as a filmmaker and documentarian. It’s a great moment for Blue Silence and for the other films I’m currently making.”
Films with a Distinct Signature
The Signed section of IDFA features the latest works by some of the most original filmmakers of our time. This section celebrates artists with a unique artistic voice that goes beyond convention. It’s no surprise that Ignacio Agüero with Letters to My Dead Parents and the duo Perut & Osnovikoff with Life Invisible are featured here.
In his film, Agüero sets out to update his parents on both intimate family matters and sociopolitical events—beginning with his father’s death a few days after Allende’s election, up to the present day. Fifty years of the filmmaker’s and Chile’s life unfold through a blend of personal family archives and new material, forming an intimate sociopolitical tapestry that persists in Agüero’s investigative and exploratory style, which he himself calls “wandering cinema.”
Exploring a deeply relevant and urgent topic, Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff’s Invisible Life opens the world of Professor Cristina Dorador and her vital mission. She leads an expedition into the depths of the breathtaking Atacama Desert—the highest and driest in the world—searching for new medicines to fight the alarming rise of drug-resistant superbugs. These bacteria already kill 5 million people every year, a number expected to soar without the work of explorers like Cristina.
The Best of the Year
Best of Fests features the year’s most acclaimed titles—films that have captured programmers’ attention, won awards, and become audience favorites across international festivals. This section showcases the most diverse styles and genres, reflecting themes that resonate globally.
Here we find Dead Tongue (Lengua Muerta), directed and produced by José Jiménez along with Sebastián Sánchez. The short film portrays a man living in isolation on a southern Chilean beach, surrounded only by a pack of dogs. With broken words, he struggles to articulate an unspeakable secret connected to Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship.
IDFAcademy
From November 13 to 16, IDFAcademy will take place—an intensive training program for emerging documentary filmmakers and producers, offering them the chance to connect with renowned professionals willing to share their expertise.
Two Chilean filmmakers were selected. One of them is Sidka Saavedra Vera, with their documentary project in post-production, The Boy Girl and the Gothic Orca (El niño niña y la orka gótika), an intimate film intertwining Buenos Aires’ underground gothic drag scene—where grotesque and fetishistic performances celebrate monstrosity as liberation—with the director’s personal journey of gender transition, narrated in voice-over and captured through intimate moments, from personal reflections to hospital imagery. The story doesn’t close—it transforms. A portrait of a body and community in transition, constantly evolving.
José Jiménez, the director of Dead Tongue presented in Best of Fests, will also participate in IDFAcademy with his feature-length project EXTERRA, co-directed with Celeste Rojas Mugica. The film begins with a group of archaeologists excavating the yard of Ingrid Olderock’s house—the most powerful woman in Pinochet’s secret police. The torturer’s archive surfaces, and the distant voice of a young narrator traces not only Olderock’s path but also those of the spaces where she trained other women who perpetrated horror. A film built from real documents and imaginative explorations as forms of resistance.
Projects
The Chilean delegation’s portfolio at IDFA also includes about ten projects in various stages of development. From Chilean production company Ballover Films come Children: The Memory That Remains (Hijos: la memoria que queda), a Chile–France co-production directed by Francisco López Balló and produced by Francisco López, Lize Bouzidi, and Jean Elios; and Territories (Territorios), also directed by López Balló and produced by Francia Aranda. From La Ventana Cine: The Capture (of Paul Schaefer) (La Captura), directed by Rafa Valdeavellano and produced by Carola Fuentes; and I Don’t Want to Say Goodbye (No quiero decir adiós), directed by Carola Fuentes and produced by Rafa Valdeavellano. From Galgo Storytelling: the VR project Knowing Your Nature, directed by Francisca Silva and produced by María José Díaz, along with the feature Chuchu, directed and produced by Díaz. From Mimbre Films: No Money No Honey, directed by Nicole Costa and produced by Daniela Camino, as well as Of Water and Death (De agua y muerte), directed by Vicente Barros and produced by Rocío Romero. From Cangrejo Films: Artifacts of War (Artefactos de Guerra), directed by Jorge Caballero and produced by Ana Giralt and Diego Pino; and Object (Objeto), a Chile–Germany co-production directed by Loreto Quijada and produced by Fernando Bascuñan, Sebastián Züger, and Loreto Quijada.
About Chiledoc
Chiledoc promotes Chilean documentary talents, their films, and series around the world. Our mission is to foster the growth of the sector through strategic promotion, network creation and strengthening, and the encouragement of collaborative practices. We are a collective force.
Chiledoc is a public–private organization supported by ProChile (under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and the Chilean Documentary Corporation (CCDoc).
Press Contact:
Natalia Raipan | periodista@ccdoc.cl
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