{"id":1396,"date":"2020-11-13T17:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T20:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2020-11-13T17:00:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T20:00:33","slug":"chiles-new-generation-of-documentary-filmmakers-embraces-history-technology-to-tell-new-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/chiles-new-generation-of-documentary-filmmakers-embraces-history-technology-to-tell-new-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Chile\u2019s New Generation of Documentary Filmmakers Embraces History, Technology to Tell New Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:
\nVariety<\/a><\/p>\n

Chile has experienced an historic cultural change over the past year, led by a mobilized and energetic generation of young and highly educated people demanding change. The world has looked on as many of the stains of Pinochet\u2019s brutal dictatorship have been washed away, making room for new narratives to be explored by an enthusiastic generation of documentary filmmakers.<\/p>\n

This month, several Chilean documentary shorts, features and VR projects have or will feature in prestigious international festivals and markets such as Dok Leipzig and IDFA. Burning Lights, an international competition at Switzerland\u2019s Visions du R\u00e9el festival dedicated to \u201cnew vocabularies and expressions\u201d was won by \u201cThe Other One,\u201d the first feature out of the gate from new Chilean production house Juntos.
\nOf course there will always be stories of, or inspired by, the trauma Chile suffered under Pinochet, but science, human rights, indigenous stories, and interpersonal experiences are flooding Chile\u2019s cinematic pipeline at a time when the country overwhelmingly voted to abandon its Pinochet-era constitution and establish a new order for a new era.
\n\u201cFrom Oct. 18 2019, the beginning of the Chilean social outburst, we turned to the streets to record what was going on,\u201d says Hern\u00e1n Caffiero, director of 2017\u2019s powerful \u201cUna Historia Necesaria\u201d (A Necessary History), which detailed 16 cases of disappeared detainees and the human rights violations to which they were subjected during the heinous dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are dozens of filmmakers who are telling different stories about our country from the most diverse points of view now,\u201d he goes on. \u201cI believe that at a time like this, the documentary exercise must not only be enunciative, but must assume its historical role in presenting these events from a real and conscious perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

As narratives have shifted, so too have viewing patterns. Historically, Chilean documentaries have been easier distributed abroad than domestically. One reason, according to Maite Alberdi, director of 2020 IDFA Best of Fest player \u201cThe Mole Agent,\u201d about an 83-year-old who goes undercover to investigate elder abuse at a nursing home, is that Chilean audiences haven\u2019t been conditioned to enjoy documentary films.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike many European or North American countries, we don\u2019t have public TV networks that broadcast documentaries, so the format is foreign to a lot of people here. We have an audience that\u2019s not used to watching documentaries,\u201d she laments before optimistically pointing out, \u201cThat\u2019s been changing over the past decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next few years, it will be difficult to imagine films supported exclusively through screenings in cinemas,\u201d says Caffiero, casting a shadow over an already limited future for Chilean documentaries seeking a return on domestic theatrical exhibition.<\/p>\n

So, in the absence of a free-to-air dissemination and with theatrical proving less promising than ever for documentary content, it seems that platforms \u201cWill now undoubtedly be the source for a democratization of Chilean documentary content,\u201d says Alberdi.
\n\u201cTechnology has evolved in our favor, and we can now tell stories through platforms and devices that can generate a communal experience,\u201d say Francisca Silva and Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 D\u00edaz, directors of \u201cAncestral Secret VR\u201d which will pitch at IDFA later this month. \u201cThe VR documentary, for example, is an opportunity to experience another reality, connect and manufacture encounters.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to argue against their logic, as the duo\u2019s Chilean VR project will soon be experienced halfway around the world, in real time, pitched to potential partners worldwide, and during a pandemic which has made in-person attendance nearly impossible.<\/p>\n

One key factor in Chile\u2019s ability to churn out content has long been some of Latin America\u2019s most progressive state funding schemes. However, an increase in interested creative talent looking to break into the industry has created a bottleneck to access that funding. According to Silva and D\u00edaz, only 20% of projects applying for funding eventually receive backing, leaving the other 80% frustrated and unable to begin production. The sector has continuously outgrown the support, pushing Chilean producers to look outside their own borders for international co-producers.<\/p>\n

In a call for expansion of the current system, Diego Pino Anguita, executive producer at Fundaci\u00f3n MAFI, general coordinator of Chiledoc and founder and producer at Cangrejo Films, says he believes that \u201cToday we have the opportunity to change how the state sees culture and cinema, to further support the financing of our works. What we do not only contributes to public systems and structures through profits and taxes paid to the state, but contributes through cultural transformation inspired by audiences who see these films.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Variety Chile has experienced an historic cultural change over the past year, led by a mobilized and energetic generation of young and highly educated people demanding change. The world has looked on as many of the stains of Pinochet\u2019s brutal dictatorship have been washed away, making room for new narratives to be explored by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1419,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions\/1419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chiledoc.cl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}