September 13, 2022
The Chilean presence lands at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The world premiere of The Wonder by Sebastián Lelio ; along with My Imaginary Country by Patricio Guzmán in the Tiff Docs section and the participation in Short Cuts of the short film The melting creatures by Diego Céspedes will be the three productions representing Chile between the 8 and 18 September in one of the most relevant competitions in the world.
The debut of these works in the 47th edition of the festival is of great importance since the meeting is listed as one of the five most prestigious international film festivals, being the most relevant for the development of the independent industry and associated with the great studios of North America.
In its previous editions, the national production has had a strong presence both in the festival and in the industry section, where films such as Lina de Lima by María Paz González; Spider by Andrés Wood and the short film Fiebre austral by Thomas Woodroffe, among others, caught people’s attention.
In addition, the national press is joined by the on-site participation of the Chilean writer and critic Ernesto Garrat and the Chilean digital magazine Positive Diva.
Get to know in detail here all about these films and follow Chile’s participation in Toronto through our social media!
With a successful starting career and after winning the Cinefondation Award with The Summer of the Electric Lion at the Festival de Cannes (2018) Diego Céspedes arrives at TIFF with his new proposal, The melting creatures.
Starring Paula Denmark, the science fiction and LGTBQl+ thematic short revolves around a trans woman who embarks on a journey with her young daughter. The goal is to reunite with her ex-lover, an inhabitant of a mysterious community that hides from the sun.
Co-produced between Chile (Giancarlo Nasi & Rodrigo Díaz) and France (Damien Megherbi & Justin Pechberty) the short film had a successful run at the Cannes Film Festival a few months ago and will also participate in Zabaltegi-Tabakalera of the San Sebastián Film Festival.
 | “It was a completely different experience from the start. I worked with an amazing crew and a lot of experience on the set, and they were all very generous and allowed me to learn a lot” Diego Céspedes |
After winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with A Fantastic Woman (2017) and then premiering consecutively Disobedience (2017) and Gloria Bell (2018) the renowned Chilean director returns with a new film that already keeps the audience and the international industry under suspense.
The wonder, is the eighth feature by Lelio, which will have its Canadian premiere in the new version of TIFF and later in a large participation with the European premiere in the official section of the San Sebastian Film Festival and in Telluride Film Festival. In addition, the new production of Lelio will soon be available on Netflix worldwide.
The film stars renowned actress Florence Pugh and is based on the classic novel of the same name by writer Emma Donoghue. For 108 minutes the audience will be able to follow the story of a nurse in the nineteenth century in Ireland and who is hired to investigate the mysterious case of a child who has not eaten anything for four months.
The outstanding documentary filmmaker participated back in TIFF 2019 with his successful documentary The Cordillera of Dreams (Goya for Best Iberoamerican Film, 2022) this year, Patricio Guzmán returns to the Canadian city, to present his new documentary My Imaginary Country.
In 83′ minutes, Guzman portrays from his point of view, the social outbreak of Chile occurred in 2019, where through his characteristic voice-over in first person seeks to create that connection between the collective struggles of his youth and the search for social changes he has portrayed in his previous documentaries.
After its acclaimed Cannes premiere at Special Screenings, the return to the Canadian city marks a new milestone for his career, as this will be the prelude to the premiere in North American cinemas to continue the tour to the San Sebastian International Festival.
 | “Patricio Guzmán’s cinema has another great virtue: the ability to be timeless. So the situation in Chile changes, so the country takes a different direction from the one we see in the film, I think these are films that can age very well” Alexandra Galvis, producer of My Imaginary Country |
PATRICIO GUZMÁN: EL CINE DOCUMENTAL COMO SEMILLA DE UNA RECONSTRUCCIÓN HISTÓRICA
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