CHILE IN THE SPOTLIGHT AT 2009 FESTIVAL

This year the 7th annual Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (VLAFF) will shine its cinematic spotlight on Chile, a country that in recent years has shown the world its capacity to make incredible films that have been winning awards and wowing critics around the globe.

In 2009, the narrow, chili-pepper shaped slice of land that borders Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, will be the South American guest country at VLAFF, with a selection of feature, documentary and short films from established and emerging filmmakers. If only 10 years ago Chile produced one film per year, today more than 30 works are in post-production and 10 films per year are released.

Here’s a brief overview of what Vancouver can expect of Chile at VLAFF this September.
Earlier this year, a Chilean film landed the International Jury Prize at one of the most important festivals in the world: Sundance. La Nana (The Maid), directed and written by Sebastián Silva, took this award and became the talk of the film world. But La Nana and Sebastián Silva are but a part of the cinematic talent coming out of Chile these days. In 2008, the Chilean film Tony Manero, directed by Pablo Larrain, was screened as part of the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. The film created waves in Cannes and since then has been winning awards at film festivals around the globe, in including the First Coral (best film) at the 2008 Havana Festival in Havana, Cuba.

Following his memorable film Machuca (which won the Audience Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2004), director Andrés Wood is once again surprizing the world with his latest film, La Buena Vida (The Good Life). La Buena Vida is a different kind of dramatic comedy, and won Best Latin American Film at the Spanish Film Academy’s 2009 Goya Awards.
In the past the cinema coming from Chile, from filmmakers such as Patricio Guzman and others, was marked by the years of the Pinochet dictatorship. Today, Chilean cinema has changed, but Chile’s history is hard to forget. As part of VLAFF 2009, the documentary El Diario de Agustín (Agustin’s Newspaper) directed by Ignacio Aguero takes on the dictatorship in a different way, showing how the media influenced society while supporting Pinochet’s regime.

This year at the biggest and most important film event in the world, the Cannes Film Festival, Chile was one of the Latin American countries that was well represented. Two Chilean films were featured in the parallel sections in Cannes; Huacho by Alejandro Fernandez was selected to participate in the Critics Week and Navidad by Sebastián Lelio competed in the Director’s Fortnight. In addition to these films were short films in the section Short Film Corner and a few features in the Festival Market.

As you can see, there are many reasons to come and enjoy the best of Chilean cinematography this year at VLAFF. We hope to see you there!