Nostalgia for the Light

Patricio Guzmán is born in 1941 in Santiago, Chile. He attends the Official Cinematography School in Madrid, where he dedicates his studies to documentary film. His films are regularly selected and awarded prizes at international festivals. In 1973 he films “The Battle of Chile”, a 5-hour documentary on the end of Allende’s government. The magazine CINEASTE nominates it as “one of the ten best political films in the world”. After the military coup, Guzmán is threatened to be executed and spends two weeks arrested inside the national stadium, unable to communicate his whereabouts to anyone. He leaves the country in November 1973. He lives in Cuba, Spain and then France, where he makes “In the Name of God” (Grand Prize, Festival of Popoli, 1987), “The Southern Cross” (Grand Prize, Festival Vue Sur les Docs, Marseille, 1992), “Chile, Obstinate Memory” (Grand Prize Festival of Tel Aviv, 1999), “The Pinochet Case” (International Critic’s Week, Cannes, 2002), and “Salvador Allende” (Official Selection, Cannes, 2004). In 2005, he makes “My Jules Verne”. He teaches documentary film classes in Europe and Latin America. He is founder and director of the International Documentary Festival of Santiago (FIDOCS). He lives in France. —patricioguzman.com