Patricio Guzmán sketches out an imaginary country all of his own in a Special Screening

Picture of the film MY IMAGINARY COUNTRY (MI PAIS IMAGINARIO) by Patricio GUZMAN © Atacama Productions

Film after film, Patricio Guzmán checks in with Chile. After rolling out the red carpet for The Cordillera of Dreams (La Cordillera de Los Sueños, 2019) and Nostalgia for The Light (Nostalgia de La Luz, 2010), the Festival de Cannes pays tribute to this poetic, political documentary filmmaker once more with a Special Screening of My Imaginary Country (Mi País Imaginario).

In October 2019, Chile is on fire. The streets of the capital, Santiago, are flooded with protesters and their cries of "Chile despertó!" ('Chile has awakened') as they demand more: more democracy, a better health system, and a new Constitution. Sparked by students, the movement erupts without warning – yet Patricio Guzmán has been dreaming of this moment for some time.

What if it is here and now that his imaginary country is born? Between 2019 and 2021, Patricio Guzmán and his camera took to the streets to cover the events at ground level.

“I investigated the mystery, I filmed its impact on the atmosphere, the air, the emotions and feelings of my country’s people.”

His camera tracks the protestors who stand tall and proud before the water cannons, hugs walls graffitied with 'Evade' ('fraud'), until it arrives at the 2020 referendum and the election of Gabriel Boric.

Fifty years earlier, he had found himself in the exact same place filming a blow-by-blow account of the end of the Allende era and the Chilean coup d'état, resulting in The Battle of Chile (La Batalla de Chile), a three-part political fresco in collaboration with Chris Marker.

Forced into exile in 1973, Guzmán has never stopped documenting upheaval in Chile: the arrest of a dictator in The Pinochet Case (Le Cas Pinochet, 2001), followed by presidential ode Salvador Allende in 2004. In his later years, he wandered the country from north to south for Nostalgia for The Light (Nostalgia de La Luz), The Pearl Button (El Botón de Nácar), and The Cordillera of Dreams (La Cordillera de Los Sueños), a contemplative trilogy with political bite.