The filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, director of “The Battle of Chile” died

Master of documentary cinema, as considered by his peers, Guzmán lived in France for more than four decades, having directed more than two dozen films, mostly documentaries, including “The Battle of Chile” (1975-1979), trilogy depicting the years of the government of Popular Unity (1970-1973) of his country of origin, and the political destabilization that culminated in the coup d’état against former President Salvador Allende (1908-1973) and the rise to power of Augusto Pinochet.

The film, which Guzmán had to smuggle out of Chile, with the establishment of the military dictatorship (1973-1990), became the most widespread Latin American documentary in history and a reference work of the political documentary globally, highlights the Efe agency.

The survival of this trilogy, composed of the films “The Insurrection of Bourgeoisie” (1975), “The coup de Estado” (1976) and “Power Popular” (1979), was supported by French filmmaker Chris Marker, director of “La Jetée”, who helped gather in Europe the material filmed by Guzmán, supported the assembly and distribution of the work.

The trilogy “The Battle of Chile” is seen as “the jewel of the crown” of a filmography of 25 titles, as today highlights Efe, along with films such as “Nostalgia of Light” (2010), work with which Guzmán won world recognition and several awards.

The Chilean filmmaker dedicated himself to the documentary, after a career start marked by collaborations with the cinema institute of the Catholic University of Chile and the short film “Viva a Liberdade” (1965), animation that uses the metaphor of a zoo to represent a prison.

“The First Year” (1972), which depicts the beginning of Salvador Allende’s government, marks Guzmán’s debut in the feature film and opens the way to “The Battle of Chile”.

“Nostalgia of Light”, filmed in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, combines the look of astronomers who seek the origins of the universe in search of the remains of missing persons during the dictatorship, by the women of Calama.

This work was complemented by “The Nácar Button” (2015), winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Festival, and “The Dream Range” (2019), with which he won the Goya for Best Ibero-American Film as well as L’Oeil d’Or of the Cannes Festival. The two films reflect on memory, the Chilean dictatorship, the impact on families, from the nature of the territory.

During exile in Spain and France, Guzmán held documentaries such as “In the Name of God” (1987), which addresses the role of the Chilean Catholic Church in the final phase of the dictatorship, “The Obstinate Memory” (1997), “The Pinochet Case” (2001) and “Salvador Allende” (2004).

His films were presented in Portugal at festivals such as DocLisboa and IndieLisboa, in cinema shows and have been distributed in a room as “Nostalgia da Luz”, “Nacar Button” and “A Cordillera dos Sonhos” (available on the Filmin platform), as well as DVD edition.

“My Imaginary Country” (2022), Patricio Guzmán’s final feature film, has a Portuguese premiere scheduled for October 15, by the distributor Midas Filmes.

This work plunges into the social explosion in Chile in 2019 and into the proposal to amend the Chilean Constitution inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship, discussed during the government of former President Gabriel Boric (2022-2026).

In 2023, Guzmán received the Chilean National Prize for Cenical and Audiovisual Arts. The main distinctions of the filmmaker include the Silver Bear of the Berlin Festival and the Best Documentary Awards at the Cannes Festival and the European Cinema.