>>> Patricio Guzman’s “La Cordillera de los Sueños” will have its premiere out of competition, under the Special Screenings section. In addition to this, Chile is part of the minority co-productions “Canción sin nombre” and “Ceniza negra”, films that will be premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week, respectively.

>>> Eleven films in development stages and an outstanding delegation of professionals will arrive at the Marché du Film, Cannes’ audiovisual market, where our country will exhibit Chile’s future films, boosting the internationalization of local production with the support of ProChile through its sectorial brands CinemaChile and Chiledoc.

>>> CinemaChile, which celebrating its tenth anniversary, will take this opportunity to launch the new International Catalog of Chilean Film, which consists of 144 new audiovisual pieces. Meanwhile, Chiledoc will exhibit four Chilean documentaries in development stages, presenting a key showcase at the Marché du Film.

A new version of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 14^th through the 25^th, and Chile will have a big presence at the French festival with La Cordillera de los Sueños, Patricio Guzmán’s latest documentary, which has been chosen by the festival’s director, Thierry Fremaux. The film, which lasts 84 minutes, is the final installation of the trilogy that Guzman began with Nostalgia de la luz (2010) and continued with El botón de Nácar (2015), and will be premiered out of competition under the Special Screenings section. Produced by the company Atacama Productions, with Chile and Switzerland, the film is described through Guzman’s own words in its synopsis: “In my country, the Andes Mountains are everywhere, but to Chilean citizens, it is an unknown territory. After going to the north with Nostalgia de la Luz, and to the south with Botón de Nácar, I now feel ready to film this immense spinal column, in order to explore its beauty and reveal its mysteries.”

Consuelo Valdes, Chile’s Minster of Cultures, the Arts, and Patrimony, assured, “The premiere of Patricio Guzman’s La cordillera de los sueños in the Cannes Festival’s official selection is the best omen for this project, which is supported by the Ministry and once more presents a poetic vision of the way in which this prestigious filmmaker investigates and approaches our Chile and its history.”

Ignacio Morande, ProChile’s Commercial Director in France, added, “Chile’s presence at Cannes has grown over the years, and this time, we will have the pleasure of launching the brand Chiledoc and of celebrating CinemaChile’s ten-year anniversary. Our commitment is to actively support the Chilean industry at this very important market.”

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTIONS IN COMPETITION

The film Canción sin nombre will compete in the prestigious Directors’ Fortnight section. The film was directed by Peruvian director Melina León and produced by her, Mike J. Whittier, and the Chilean director of photography Inti Briones, who was also responsible for the film’s direction of photography. The film narrates the journey of a migrant of the Andes Mountains named Georgina Condori, who during a terrifying Peruvian crisis in 1980 searches for her newborn child, who has disappeared from an informal clinic in Lima. As she investigates, Georgina meets a reporter called Pedro Campos, who will try to help her by taking over the search. The story is based on true events.

Meanwhile, Ceniza negra is one of the seven films selected for Critics’ Week, and will be part of this parallel section’s feature length film competition. Sofía Quirós’ debut film was produced by Millaray Cortés and Chilean producer Matías Echeverría, and its realization was led by Sputnik Films (Costa Rica) in co-production with La POST Producciones (Chile), Murillo Cine (Argentina) and Promenades Films (France). The film tells the story of Selva, a 13-year-old girl played by Smachleen Gutiérrez, in her second collaboration with Quiros after the short film Selva. Quirós has an important link to Chile thanks to her relationship with Chilean director of photography Francisca Sáez, with whom she has worked for several years, and who was also responsible for the photography of Ceniza Negra. “Together we have developed not only our film’s photographical aspects, but also a deep creative work with the film’s screenplay and staging. My previous short films were co-produced with Chile, and therefore in Ceniza Negra we have had the opportunity of deepening the co-production experience and reaffirming bonds that have already been developing over several years,” the director elaborated.

CINÈFONDATION

For two months, young Chilean directors Diego Céspedes and Vinko Tomicic have been part of the prestigious Cinefondation Residence. During the festival, they will have the opportunity of presenting their debut films, which are still in development stages, before experts from the global film industry: Céspedes will present La misteriosa mirada del flamenco and Tomicic will show Perros.

The film Los Colonos, a fiction feature film directed by Felipe Gálvez and produced by Quijote Films, which is inspired in the genocide of Patagonia’s native inhabitants, will participate in the Cannes section destined for films in development stages, L’Atelier, which just as its description indicates, “supports the emergence of new filmmakers aspiring to international productions.” In this year’s selection, the Chilean film stands out as the program’s sole American participant.

CHILE AT THE MARCHÉ DU FILM

 Although the spotlights tend to focus on the Festival’s red carpet, the Marché du Film –one of the European market’s most transcendent industry gatherings— also features important filmmakers and new films that are seeking to close their production models, secure distribution, and other deals. This is where several Chilean projects, both finalized and in development stages, will arrive and present themselves in the framework of the market’s diverse sections.

CHILEAN DOCUMENTARIES IN DOC CORNER

Stemming from the creation of the sectorial brand Chiledoc, a public-private alliance between the Chilean Documentary Corporation CCDoc and ProChile, Chilean documentaries now have a new promotion representative abroad, and specifically, at the Marche du Film. “A few years ago, the Marche du Film created Doc Corner, a space dedicated exclusively to the documentary industry. This section amasses producers, directors, sales agents, and festival programmers, amongst others, in order to establish new links and business opportunities,” explains Diego Pino, director of the sectorial brand Chiledoc.

In the framework of Doc Corner, Chiledoc will present four documentaries that are practically in their final stages (works in progress) to the present market agents. These films are El Negro, directed by Sergio Castro, and El cielo está rojo, directed by Francina Carbonell, both produced by Gabriela Sandoval (Storyboard Media); El agente topo, directed by Maite Alberdi and produced by Marcela Santibáñez (Micromundo); and Anacoreta, directed by Francisco Bermejo and Francisco Hervé (Panchito Films). The Chilean showcase will take place on Monday, May 20^th, in the Doc Corner’s screening room.

The memory of Ricardo Palma Salamanca is still alive, due to it being one of the court cases with the biggest media coverage in Chile. Sergio Castro began registering this documentary three years ago: “The project recreates the figure of a man that is like that of a ghost, an absence that to this very day is a snapshot of our country, for all of the moral contradictions it signifies,” the director shared. He also added: “The appearance of Palma Salamanca on the global radar makes this film a both necessary and contemporary document, because it challenges our own history as a country.”

Producer Gabriela Sandoval assures, “As a showcase, this is a valuable space that allows us to show programmers, festival directors, and sales agents the advances of El Negro and El cielo está rojo, a documentary about the fire that ravaged the San Miguel prison in 2010, a judicial case that is still open to this day.”

“Presenting El agente topo at Cannes is without a doubt a unique opportunity that we hope may open doors for us in the future,” said Marcela Santibañez regarding director Maite Alberdi’s most recent work, where she collaborates as a producer.

Francisco Hervé, producer of Anacoreta, a film that follows the path of a man who lives removed from society in a hut by the sea, assured: “We hope that through our participation, Anacoreta may raise subjects for conversation such as freedom and solitude, reflecting on what we are as a society.”

FANTASTIC 7 PITCH

The feature length project Evasión, directed by Cristián Jiménez and produced by Sergio Gándara from Parox, will be presented in this exclusive selection of only seven projects, which will represent the beginning of this new section at the Marché du Film.

LE FABRIQUE

A total number of ten projects were selected for the new edition of La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde, a professional program for new talents, organized by the Institut Français in the framework of the Cannes Festival and its market. This year’s selection includes a film in which Chile participates as a minority co-producer: Tres Hermanos, a film that will be directed by Argentinean director Francisco Paparella.

SHORT FILM CORNER

The short films Soy sola by Natalia Luque Barrios, produced by Hiedra Films, and Cuando era de día by Diego Costa, produced by DCM Producciones and Imagen Latente, will form part of the Short Film Corner’s catalog, which offers buyers and sales agents an exclusive selection of productions from around the world in short film format.

MARKET SCREENING

The much-awarded Chilean film Perro Bomba –directed by Juan Cáceres, produced by Infractor Films, and premiered at the Miami, Guadalajara, and Malaga film festivals— will have a market screening in pursuit of new international sales.

CHILEAN DELEGATION AT THE MARCHÉ DU FILM

With the support of the Ministry of Cultures, the Arts, and Patrimony, through the Council for the Arts and Audiovisual Industry’s Program for Attendance to International Markets, six producers will travel to the French audiovisual market. The official delegation that will attend the Marché du Film consists of: Marcela Santibáñez from Micromundo, Pablo Berthelon from Carnada Films, Giancarlo Nasi from Don Quijote Films, Florencia Larrea from Forastero, Francisco Hervé from Panchito Films, Alejandra García from Wood, and Gabriela Sandoval from Storyboard Media. They will be joined by professionals and representatives from several Chilean production companies, such as Sergio Castro, director of El Negro; Marcela Santibáñez, producer of El agente topo; Francina Carbonell, director of El cielo está rojo; Francisco Bermejo and Francisco Hervé, director and producer of Anacoreta; Miguel Soffia from We are south, as a company representative for the sectorial brand Chiledoc; Diego Pino and Paola Castillo, the sectorial brand’s director and associate directora, respectively. All of them will be promoting their best audiovisual projects at the market with the on-terrain support of CinemaChile, ProChile’s sectorial brand, responsible for the international promotion of every Chilean audiovisual production abroad; and Chiledoc, which represents and promotes Chilean documentaries in the international film industry.

NEW INTERNATIONAL CATALOG OF CHILEAN FILM

As happens every year at the Marché du Film, CinemaChile will launch the new International Catalog of Chilean Film, which this year contains 144 productions: fiction and documentary short and feature-length films, as well as virtual reality projects. The catalog includes pieces by filmmakers with extensive careers, as well as by new talents. It will circulate through the world’s main international markets and festivals, functioning as a tool for the diffusion and commercialization of this year’s Chilean productions.