The Embassy of Chile and The National Museum of Women in the Arts
proudly present
Chile on Film
a documentary series by women filmmakers from Chile
***featuring Marcela Said in person with the American premiere of her film
"OPUS DEI: A SILENT CRUSADE"
Film Schedule
Wednesday, May 10 @ 7 p.m.
Pinochet’s Legacy: Carmen Castillo & Cecilia Cornejo
LA FLACA ALEJANDRA (Carmen Castillo, Chile, 2003, 59 min.) follows Marcia Merino, who was forced through torture and sexual degradation to become an informant during the Pinochet years and was referred to only as “La Flaca Alejandra.” Nearly two decades later she publicly confessed her deeds and asked for forgiveness. In this extraordinary personal journey, she reveals the painful truth of her experience. I WONDER WHAT YOU WILL REMEMBER OF SEPTEMBER (Cecilia Cornejo, Chile/USA, 2004, 26 min.) is a personal documentary that contemplates the fateful coup date, September 11, 1973, and Cornejo’s childhood during the Pinochet dictatorship, and ponders how her young daughter growing up in Chicago during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 will be impacted the significance of this date.
Wednesday, May 17 @ 7 p.m.
Marcela Said in person with OPUS DEI: A SILENT CRUSADE
Filmmaker Marcela Said presents the U.S. premiere of her groundbreaking work OPUS DEI: A SILENT CRUSADE (Marcela Said & Jean de Certeau, Chile/France, 2005, 52 min.). Appropriately coinciding with phenomenal international curiosity with The Da Vinci Code, this documentary is a journey into the heart of one of the most secretive groups of the Catholic church. Through meetings with Chilean Opus Dei members in their homes, schools, and churches, the film penetrates and reveals bit by bit this world unknown to most of us.
Thursday, May 18
Good Pinochet, Bad Pinochet
6:15 p.m. Alejandro Goic was sixteen, Enrique Paris, twelve, and Carolina Tohá, eight years old, when General Pinochet seized power in Chile on September 11, 1973. During the coup Alejandro and Carolina lost their fathers, and all three lost their innocence and their youth. And eventually all went on to become powerful student leaders in the tumultuous eighties. With thoughtful, emotional interviews and rich archival footage, PINOCHET'S CHILDREN (Paula Rodgríguez, Chile, 2002, 83 min.) is a remarkable film that beautifully renders three people's course of life against the background of the socio-political developments in their homeland.
8 p.m. Marcela Said joins NMWA for a second evening of her investigative work with the remarkable and profound 2001 documentary I LOVE PINOCHET (Chile, 2002, 52 min.), which presents a little discussed minority of Chileans who supported dictator Augusto Pinochet and his return to power. Constructed of a series of portraits that reveal the breadth and complexity of Pinochetism in Chile, I LOVE PINOCHET offers a unique look at the social and political legacy of Augusto Pinochet, as seen from his follower's point of view.
Thursday, May 25
ANTES QUE TODO & THE ACCIDENTAL DIVA Filmmaker Lydia Bendersky in person!
6:30 p.m. The first program of a musical evening features a new documentary from María Paz, ANTES QUE TODO (2005, 51 min.). The film follows two boys, the trumpeter Jonathan and violinist Cesar, who discover their love for music and decide to strive to pursue this dream, with all its struggle and joy. An uplifting and compelling story of childhood dreams and realities, ANTES QUE TODO assumes that music is the most important thing of all. Screening with DEAR NONNA (Tiziana Panizza, Italy/Chile, 2004, 15 min.).
8 p.m. Lydia Bendersky’s delightful ACCIDENTAL DIVA (Chile/ USA, 2003, 58 min.) is a documentary about world-class operatic soprano Verónica Villarroel, who is one of Chile's proudest cultural exports. Villarroel’s rise to international stardom reads like a fairy tale: she debuted in her first solo role in "La Bohème" without ever having studied music. The doc takes us behind the scenes of the international opera world with all its beauty, while reminding us all of the sacrifices and struggles necessary to “make it.” Screening with ENCUENTRO (Cecilia Cornejo, 2003, 5:30 min.).
***All films are in Spanish with English subtitles or vice versa.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Metro: Metrocenter
More information: www.nmwa.org
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