I Never Climbed the Provincia

The premise of this film seems simple enough. Director Ignacio Agüero investigates how his neighborhood in Santiago, Chile has changed in recent years—in particular because a huge new apartment block has been built, which largely obstructs the view of Mount Provincia. He talks to neighbors who remember how things used to be and muses about the old bakery on the corner that had to make way for the new building. And about Don Henry, the man who looked just like the actor Peter O’Toole, and who died before Agüero could film him.

He writes about it in a letter written with a fountain pen to an unknown addressee. With a tinge of melancholy, Agüero also interweaves his own past, with the aid of photos and excerpts from his earlier films, referring to places he used to live and important people in his life. There’s no linear narrative—Agüero deliberately digresses, inviting us to give freedom to our own thoughts.