Ten years have passed since the birth of CinemaChile, a public-private entity created by ProChile and the Association of Film and Television Producers (APCT), during which time it has been in charge of taking all national film and television production beyond borders, representing the audiovisual industry of our country as a brand; an industry that has grown by leaps and bounds, winning hundreds of awards since 2009, A-Class festival selections, as well as grants and lauded international premieres.

All of these reasons prompted CinemaChile to throw a special anniversary celebration to appreciate the sustained growth that our country’s fiction films, in particular, have had, approaching an international audience for the first time. That is how “Week of Chilean Cinema” was born, an event that has been present in the cities of Madrid and Paris, and that will arrive in Berlin this week.

From June 20th to 23rd, “Week of Chilean Cinema” will touch down in the city of Berlin, in the mythical Babylon Cinema, where, as in the cities of Madrid and Paris, it contemplates the presentation of ten major films. They represent a portion of the best Chilean cinema of the last decade. Directors Fernando Guzzoni (Jesús) and Dominga Sotomayor (Too Late to Die Young) and actors Alejandro Goic and Paulina García will be in charge of presenting the films and will talk with the audience.

The complete program consists of the productions The Nanny (2009) by Sebastián Silva; Lucia (2010) by Nilles Atallah; Violeta Went to Heaven (2011) by Andrés Wood; No (2012) by Pablo Larraín; Gloria (2013) by Sebastián Lelio; To Kill a Man (2014) by Alejandro Fernández Almendras; The Club (2015) by Pablo Larraín; Jesús (2016) by Fernando Guzzoni; A Fantastic Woman (2017) by Sebastián Lelio; and Too Late to Die Young (2019) by Dominga Sotomayor.

Selected Pieces

All the films chosen have had significant national and international exhibitions, where they have been granted multiple awards, for both cast and crew, creative and technical crew members included. Among some of the distinctions awarded to these films are:

The Nanny premiered in 2009 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Grand Jury Prize and a Special Jury Prize for actress Catalina Saavedra. From there, the film won more than twenty international awards, including the Colón de Oro at the Ibero-American Film Festival of Huelva for Best Film, as well as Best Direction and Best Actress. It also received the Critics Award and Best Actress at Festival de Cartagena de Indias, among many others; it was nominated for the Ariel Awards and was the first Chilean film nominated for the Golden Globes in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The film Lucia, premiered in 2010, won the FIPRESCI Prize — Special Jury Prize — and the “French Critics’ Discovery Award” in Toulouse. It also won prizes at the Court-Bouillon Festival in France, the first prize for Best International Feature Film at the Baden Animation Festival, Switzerland; and the “Wooden Wolf Grand Prix” at the Tallinn Animation Festival in Estonia, among many others.

Meanwhile, the 2011 film Violeta Went to Heaven received the Best Direction and Best Actress awards at the Huelva Film Festival; the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival, and the Audience Award at the Toulouse Festival. In addition, Wood’s film was nominated to the Goya Awards for Best Ibero-American Film.

After its premiere in 2012, the film No was awarded a Phoenix Prize and a Platinum Award for Best Screenplay; and it marked a milestone in the history of national cinema: in January 2013, it became the first Chilean film to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 2013, Gloria was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Paulina García, as well as several Platino Awards, including Best Ibero-American Film, Best Female Performance, Best Screenplay, and Best Direction. Gloria also won Best Ibero-American Film at the Ariel Awards and was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Award.

To Kill a Man, released in 2014, won the Best Film Award in the World Cinema category at Sundance Film Festival the same year as its premier. It also won the City of Lisbon Feature Film Grand Prix, the highest honor from festival IndieLisboa in Portugal; and the Big Screen Critics Award at the Rotterdam Festival, among others.

The Club, premiered in the Official Competition at the Berlin Film Festival, received the Silver Bear, the Grand Jury Prize, at the German competition. It also received the Best Film Award at the Havana Film Festival, four awards at the Fénix Awards ceremony; Best Screenplay and Best Actor at Mar del Plata Festival, three other awards at the Chicago Film Festival, four awards at the Ceará Festival, and many others. In addition, The Club became the second Chilean film to be nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.

The feature film Jesús, which premiered in 2016, acquired great recognition after receiving the Best Actor award at the Torino Festival as well as the Best Actor and Best Edition award at FICSUR.

Released in 2017 at the Berlinale, A Fantastic Woman received its first recognition in the German contest, winning the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay and the Teddy Award of that year. Then, the film won a series of awards at festivals such as San Sebastián, Lima, and Havana; and received the awards: Independent Spirit for Best Foreign Film, the Goya Award for Best Ibero-American Film, Ariel Award for Best Ibero-American Film; and Best Ibero-American Fiction Film, Best Direction and Best Editing at the Platinum Awards. In February 2018, A Fantastic Woman made history for national cinema by obtaining the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

In 2018, Too Late to Die Young was released, a film that also became a milestone for national cinema in winning the Golden Leopard for Best Direction at the Locarno Film Festival, being the first time the award was granted to a woman in the history of the competition, won by the Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor. Since then, the film continued to receive multiple awards such as the Best Direction and Best Photography awards at the Gijón Festival (Spain) and the KNF Award at the Rotterdam Festival, awarded by the Circle of the Dutch Film Journalists as the best feature film co-produced with said country at the event.