Picture of the movie La Cordillera De Los Sueños ( The Cordillera Of Dreams ) © Atacama Productions
Patricio Guzmán: the perpetual quest for a Chilean truth
Exiled in France shortly after Pinochet’s coup d’état in 1973, documentary film director Patricio Guzmán continues to explore the history of his country, Chile, through his politically resonating work. His documentaries, Nostalgia de la luz (Nostalgia for the Light) in 2010, and El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button) (Silver Bear in Berlin) in 2015, have stirred the interest of thousands of audience members regarding the far-off yet still sensitive subject of the dictatorship. With La Cordillera de los Sueños (The Cordillera of Dreams), Patricio Guzmán closes out the trilogy and reveals, with the help of the physical and powerful symbol that the Andean Mountains represent, the mysteries of a country that is finally accepting “to look back on its past.” The director answered three questions about his film, presented as a Special Screening.
How did your film La Cordillera de Los Sueños (The Cordillera of Dreams) come about?
Since the very beginning, the people who have lived in Santiago, Chile, have only had one thing to look at: the mountain range that overlooks the city from an altitude of 5,000 meters, facing the city. That intrigued me.
“Scanning the steep, craggy summits, penetrating the deep valleys, I begin an introspective journey which, perhaps, will reveal to me some of the secrets within my Chilean soul.”
You went North for Nostalgia de la luz (Nostalgia of the Light), and South for El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button). Why did you film up close this “immense backbone”, the Andes surrounding Santiago?
Chile can be divided into three parts:
The northern desert
The southern islands
And the Andes surrounding Santiago
This is the geographic region that inspired me.
What does Chile and its magnificent landscapes represent for you?
I love the Chilean landscapes; they are different from those that you find in Europe, where I live.
They remind me that I belong to another continent. They evoke nostalgia sometimes, and often awaken memories.
