The Cordillera of Dreams
SOME NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR
In the month of March 2015 my documentary film The Pearl Button was shown in Berlin, where it won the Silver Bear and was later nominated for the French César Awards. A few months later, I took it to Chile to premiere it at FIDOCS (the festival that I started 21 years ago in Santiago).
I experienced a great surprise.
I arrived with a long list of arguments to defend the work against journalists and face the public in debates. For a long time my films provoked criticism: most of them referred to the Pinochet coup. The general public did not want to be told about "disappeared", dead, political prisoners, tortured and things like that. I came prepared, in any case, for these criticisms.
However none of this happened. People were more interested and more open than ever. The film mobilized thousands of spectators and remained on the Santiago billboard for a long time.
Later, the Ministry of Education contacted me to ask me for several films. He wanted to buy them to display in universities, elementary schools, colleges and high schools. All of which left me very surprised.
I realized, in fact, that the forgetful country was beginning to remember its past. Little by little, the amnesiac country began the long work of dusting off the history texts. Young people, in particular, sought to learn about the anonymous trajectory of those shot, prisoners and exiles, forgotten for so long. In reality, the repression, which lasted several decades, became a topical issue.
Therefore, the point of view of my new film (which I have titled "The Cordillera of Dreams") has changed slightly. Now I have a deeper look to do, after Nostalgia for the Light and The Pearl Button, a final part of this trilogy (which I started more than ten years ago).
The meaning of the film took shape and form. It is a matter of confrontation between men, the cosmos and nature. However, this chain of gigantic mountains, which are the heart of my theme, became a metaphor for the immutable, for what remains and inhabits us, despite the disappearance of a part of our history. Exploring the mountain range pushes me to explore my dreams. Observing its steep peaks, entering its deep valleys, I begin an introspective journey that may reveal to me the hidden secrets of my Chilean soul.
"The obstinate memory" (1997), "The Pinochet case" (2001), "Salvador Allende" (2004), "Nostalgia for the light" (2010) and "The Pearl Button" (2015).