Patricio Guzmán Director
Filmography Selected
Patricio Guzmán was born in 1941 in Santiago de Chile. He studied at the “Official School of Cinematographic Art” in Madrid. He dedicates his career to documentary film. His work, presented at numerous festivals, is internationally recognised.
Between 1972 and 1979, he directed The Battle of Chile, a five-hour trilogy on the government of Salvador Allende and its fall. This film lays the foundations of his cinema. The North American magazine CINEASTE named it among “the ten best political films in the world”.
After Pinochet's coup, he was arrested and locked up for two weeks in the National Stadium, where he was repeatedly threatened with mock executions.
In 1973, he left Chile and settled in Cuba, then in Spain and France, but remained very attached to his country and its history. He chairs the International Documentary Festival in Santiago de Chile (FIDOCS), which he created in 1997.
The Cordillera of Dreams presented in the official selection at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, closes a trilogy that began with Nostalgia of the Light (Cannes 2010) and The Pearl Button (Berlin 2015). His new film, My Imaginary Country, was selected for the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
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2022
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MY IMAGINARY COUNTRY
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2019
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THE CORDILLERA OF DREAMS
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2015
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THE PEARL BUTTON
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2010
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NOSTALGIA OF LIGHT
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2005
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MY JULES VERNE
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2004
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SALVADOR ALLENDE
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2001
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THE PINOCHET CASE
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1997
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CHILE, THE Stubborn MEMORY
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1992
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THE SOUTHERN CROSS
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1995
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THE BARRIERS OF SOLITUDE
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1987
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IN THE NAME OF GOD
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1983
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THE ROSE OF THE WIND
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1972-1979
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THE BATTLE OF CHILE I-II-III
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"A galvanising film...The aftermath of the September 2022 plebiscite on the redrafted constitution, which saw 62 per cent of voters reject the proposed changes, may temporarily slow down the filmmaker's hopes that "the country we imagined will become reality. But in 2023, as the country begins a new constitution-writing process, the momentum that Guzmán identifies, with women at its core, drives a powerful vision for Chile."
Maria Delgado, Sight & Sound ★★★★
"Staggering documentary...examines popular protest that swept through Chile in 2019, when hundreds of thousands of people - chiefly young women - took to the streets of Santiago. Patricio Guzmán's movies about Chile's dark night of the national soul in this era have had a fierce poetry...through documentaries such as Nostalgia for the Light in 2010 and The Cordillera of Dreams in 2019. This movie supplies a moving endpoint to the tragic sequence of work which Guzmán has created."
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
★★★★
"Momentous...at once vivid, kinetic, hope-filled and haunted.
Eloquent photography...an elegant, unfussy structure makes room for the micro alongside the macro.
Extraordinary drone shots capture the sheer number of people involved in the estallido, city avenues turned to rivers of humanity.
A frozen image of a point in time; a graceful snapshot of change in motion."
Danny Leigh, The Financial Times
★★★★
"Documents a new kind of grassroots protest, one in which every participant is also a citizen journalist; in which police and army atrocities are captured by a hundred phone cameras. The message is ultimately one of hope: for Chileans this time at least, protest has resulted in real and meaningful changes."
Wendy Ide,The Observer
★★★★★
"Urgent. Compelling. Stunning."
Dan Carrier,Islington Tribune/Camden New Journal/West End Extra
★★★★
Unlike many films charting waves of protest, this one has a hopeful sweep, with the prospect of a new progressive constitution within touching distance even if the rejection of the first attempt last year suggests there are still plenty of those stones on the road ahead."
Amber Wilkinson, Eye For Film
★★★★
"From Chile's master documentary filmmaker...the film's vision comes alive with a real sense of hope about the soul of Chile and its thirst for change that's palpable, not imaginary. The scenes of feminist protest chant, "A rapist in your path," being performed are unforgettable."
Marina Ashioti, Little White Lies
★★★★
"A very highly charged and emotional documentary which provides a snapshot of people power and what it can achieve..."
Maria Duarte, The Morning Star
★★★★
"It provides a fascinating in-the-moment of how a social movement arises from root demands...As a record of a country at a major crossroads, this is captivating stuff."
Feder Tot, We Love Cinema
★★★★
"Patricio Guzmán tirelessly continues to bear witness to the transformations of his country and its population...creates intimate connections through the use of tight camera work and overhead drone footage, honouring the women of all ages who led the uprising and guided the nation to not only a new constitution, but to a new democracy.
Camila E. Sotomayor, Movies1
★★★★
"Passionate. As one would expect from a filmmaker of Guzmán's experience, My Imaginary Country is well assembled."
Mansel Stimpson,Film Review Daily
"While this is a first-person documentary, with the director providing voice-over narration, it expresses a poignant humility and a patient willingness to listen."
A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"Celebrates the children of the revolution...organically comprehensive and elegantly galvanizing."
Carlos Aguilar, THE WRAP
“Despite all the sorrow from the ever-present trauma of young lives lost or permanently scarred, “My Imaginary Country” drips with the contagious thrill of hope... it is hard not to be moved.”
Rafaela Sales Ross, THE PLAYLIST
“Guzman’s heart and soul investment in the film and the snapshots of people power in action make for an emotional and involving documentary.”
Allan Hunter, SCREEN International
“It’s a vindication, not just for the nation, but for its most clear-eyed, full-hearted chronicler. Would that all countries were so lucky as to have a Patricio Guzmán, to help with the painful process of recovering what has been lost and, as with “My Imaginary Country,” occasionally to celebrate what has been gained.”
Jessica Kiang, VARIETY
“With civil liberties in America under attack, those willing to fight to keep the liberties we have in place could learn a thing or two from the Patricio Guzmán documentary My Imaginary Country.”
Valerie Comkplex, DEADLINE
"Compelling. Urgent and topical, My Imaginary Country features harrowing front-line protest...Reflective but not oveerbearing, Guzmán gets out of the way of his subjects, ceding the spotlight to new generations and marvelling at their good works."
Nicolas Rapold, THE FINANCIAL TIMES
"It's a stirring film, of a movement that the director believes "altered the soul of Chile. The film combines on-the-ground footage and staggering aerial shots of the demonstrations and riots."
Demetrious Mattheou, THE ARTS DESK
