With a world premiere and an official selection, the Chilean documentary arrives at an important festival and in the English market

The premiere of Breaking the Brick, the long-awaited sequel to Chicago Boys, is one of the high points of the national presence at Sheffield Doc/Fest.

  • In addition, he attends as part of the official selection Alisrecent winner of the award for Best Ibero-American Documentary Feature Film at FIC Guadalajara.

Between June 23 and 28, the 29th edition of Sheffield Doc/Fest will be held, one of the main documentary film events in England, which, in its face-to-face edition, will have a large Chilean presence. On the one hand, the premiere of Breaking the Brick, a film directed and produced by Carola Fuentes and Rafael Valdeavellano, officially selected in the Rebellions section of the festival. Also, Alisdirected by Nicolas van Hemelryck and Clare Weiskopf, who also produce alongside Lise Lense, Alexandra Galvis and Radu Stancu, and awarded at the latest edition of the Guadalajara International Film Festival, has been selected to participate in the People & Community section and of the Youth Jury Award.

“When the creators and creators have their eyes on the world and the social processes that we live, there is a more than virtuous encounter between art and what we conceive as reality, understanding that the point of view is always on it. In this context, the work carried out by documentalists is essential to leave testimony and give an account of our past and recent history. It is a task at the service of memory and the observation of ourselves through that specialized eye trained in finding the textures and cracks of what it observes. For this reason, it is important to have visibility spaces that transcend national borders, such as those provided by Sheffield Doc/fest, which also offers opportunities for the materialization of new projects. We celebrate the participation of this delegation and its contribution to national and world documentary cinema”, comments Andrea Gutiérrez Vásquez, Undersecretary of Cultures and Arts.

A Chilean delegation made up of prominent national filmmakers and their projects in development will also participate in this important meeting. “Four Chilean producers will also come to Sheffield Doc/Fest looking for new connections and business. It is in places like this that the Chilean documentary community is strengthened and grows internationally”, comments Paula Ossandón, director of Chiledoc, an initiative responsible for the promotion and dissemination of the Chilean documentary sector in the world.

The mission to the Sheffield Doc/Fest festival and market in the United Kingdom is financed by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage and coordinated by Chiledoc, the Chilean documentary sector brand.

The return to English lands

The Chilean participation undoubtedly stands out in this new edition of the English festival and market, in part, thanks to the world premiere of Breaking the Brick which, after having a successful tour of international markets, arrives at one of the most important festivals in the documentary world. The film, conceived as a continuation of the documentary chicago boys (2015), under the same direction and production, portrays the process experienced in Chile in 2019, when millions of Chileans rose up to challenge the economic theories imposed during the dictatorship.

It is not the first time that Breaking the Brick has been present at Sheffield Doc/Fest, since in 2020 the film was selected to participate in the Marketplace. “It was the first time we talked about the project in public and the feedback we received was what gave it the form that the documentary has today. Opening in Sheffield, therefore, is very symbolic for us”, comments Carola Fuentes, one of its directors.

Secondly, Alisrecent winner of the award for Best Ibero-American Documentary Feature Film at the latest edition of FIC Guadalajara and awarded the Crystal Bear for Best Film at the Generation 14plus competition and the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 2021, has been selected to participate in the People & Community section and the Youth Jury award. Alis shows how teenagers who lived on the unforgiving streets of Bogotá, Colombia, can project their destiny and break with violence even when they were born without opportunities.

“It is an honor to return to Sheffield Doc/Fest this year. We are building a powerful and ambitious impact campaign (#AlisExiste) that allows the protagonists and many other young people to have opportunities to achieve their dreams. We hope that being at this festival will allow us to reach people and institutions that can be allies of this initiative”, mentions one of its directors, Nicolas van Hemelryck.

New Chilean voices

In addition to the notable premiere and the official selections, as part of the Chilean delegation, various audiovisual projects of national production attend. Alida, yeridá, is a feature film project directed by Rafael Guendelman and produced by Joaquín Echeverría, where the author investigates, from family archives, the motivations of his family to emigrate to Israel in the 70s, as well as the disappointments that motivated his return to Chile, decades later.

Corrupto, directed by Juan Cifuentes Mera and produced by Joaquín Tapia Ross, Rodrigo Díaz and Margarita Egaña, arrives at Sheffield Doc/Fest after passing through Hot Docs, where it had its world premiere. The short documentary film tells how after losing her memory due to electroshock therapy, Andrea tries to piece together her past in search of her old self.

To the south of winter is the snow, directed by Sebastián Vidal Campos and produced by Sebastián Lavados, is another of the projects that will participate in the market. The documentary deals with a handful of settlers who cohabit, in the south of the earth, with a nature as cruel as it is overwhelming, where men, women and children, together with their packs and cattle, survive the loneliness, cold and snow that threatens to cover everything.

Also, A trip to the rootsdirected by José Manuel Loyola and produced by Carola Fuentes and Rafael Valdeavellano, which tells the story of Adán returning to his territory to reconvert his community to Mapuche spirituality and worldview.

Finally, chili style, directed and produced by Pablo Aravena, will attend the market in search of networks and contact with different market agents. The documentary feature film project portrays the phenomenon of political muralism in Chile.

With a world premiere and an official selection, the Chilean documentary arrives at an important festival and in the English market