InstituteFestivalProfessionals
EN/NL
Donate
Loading...
MyIDFA
My Imaginary Country
About IDFA
Archive
My Imaginary Country
IDFA 2022

My Imaginary Country

Mi país imaginario
Patricio Guzmán
Chile, France
2022
85 min
Dutch Premiere
Festival history

“If you want to film a fire, you must be ready in the place where the first flame will appear,” Patricio Guzmán once learned from film essayist Chris Marker. Guzmán missed that first flame when mass protests erupted in Santiago in October 2019. But after that, this legendary Chilean filmmaker (IDFA’s guest of honor in 2019) missed nothing, just as in 1973 when he took to the streets to document the resistance against Pinochet’s coup d’état.

In 2019, the main square of Santiago and the streets around it were packed with more than 1.5 million protesters—captured by Guzmán in impressive drone footage. The crowds called for more democracy, a more just society, better education and healthcare, plus a new constitution.

In addition to the dynamic street scenes and his own philosophical commentary, Guzmán constructs his film from interviews with activists, rioters, experts and artists—all women. One of them, a writer, describes the protests aptly: “This was not an outburst but a relief.”

Credits
Director
Co-production
    Alexandra Galvis for Market Chile,
    Olivier Père for ARTE France
Editing
    Laurence Manheimer
    Laurence Manheimer
World Sales
    Pyramide International
    Pyramide International
Distribution for the Netherlands
    Cinéart Nederland BV
    Cinéart Nederland BV
Screening copy
    Cinéart Nederland BV
    Cinéart Nederland BV

Videos

Images

0
1