Chile

How far will you go to protect your family? Jorge is a peaceful, hard-working man who seeks a simple, quiet life for himself and his family. One day, he is mugged and humiliated by a gang of thugs led by Kalule, a delinquent from his neighbourhood. This event infuriates his son as much for Jorge’s meek acceptance as for the act itself. The son, looking for retribution, ends up getting himself shot. Kalule is sent to jail and when he gets out 18 months later, begins a campaign of terror against Jorge and his family.

How far will you go to protect your family? Jorge is a peaceful, hard-working man who seeks a simple, quiet life for himself and his family. One day, he is mugged and humiliated by a gang of thugs led by Kalule, a delinquent from his neighbourhood. This event infuriates his son as much for Jorge’s meek acceptance as for the act itself. The son, looking for retribution, ends up getting himself shot. Kalule is sent to jail and when he gets out 18 months later, begins a campaign of terror against Jorge and his family.

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s first movie in 23 years is a full-throttle return to form for the mad maestro of El Topo and The Holy Mountain, now an octogenarian. A semi-autobiographical, semi-fantasized coming-of-age tale reminiscent of Fellini’s Amarcord, the film is set in 1930s Chile, where a little boy named Alejandro grows up, unhappily, under a stern, domineering father and a statuesque, operatically-emotive mother. The Dance of Reality may be Jodorowsky’s most coherent, grounded, and personal film ever.

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s first movie in 23 years is a full-throttle return to form for the mad maestro of El Topo and The Holy Mountain, now an octogenarian. A semi-autobiographical, semi-fantasized coming-of-age tale reminiscent of Fellini’s Amarcord, the film is set in 1930s Chile, where a little boy named Alejandro grows up, unhappily, under a stern, domineering father and a statuesque, operatically-emotive mother. The Dance of Reality may be Jodorowsky’s most coherent, grounded, and personal film ever.

Ximena is an illiterate woman in her fifties (played by Paulina García who won the Best Actress award in Berlin for her role in Gloria) who has learned to disguise her inability to read or write. Jackeline is a young unemployed elementary school teacher who tries to convince Ximena to take classes with her. Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, until one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure from childhood: a letter Ximena’s father left when he abandoned her many years before.

When the car accident happens, Bianca is just starting to smoke and Tomas is still a virgin. The two siblings are left alone, two orphans adrift in the faded splendor of Rome. Life loses its shape as they get lost in the back alleys of adulthood, until Bianca encounters Maciste, a retired Mr. Universe, and enters his dark mansion in search of a future. This exquisitely photographed film captures all the rich colours of grief and the uncertainty of youth.

Navidad is the second feature film by Sebastián Lelio, the award-winning director of Gloria.

Chile, 1973. Gonzalo Infante and Pedro Machuca are two eleven-year-old boys living in the capital city of Santiago. Gonzalo comes from a well-to-do family, while Pedro lives in a shantytown on the outskirts of Gonzalo's neighbourhood. Father McEnroe, the principal of St. Patrick’s, enrolls a group of boys from low-income families at the elite private school with the conviction that the students will learn to respect one another.

Ximena is an illiterate woman in her fifties (played by Paulina García who won the Best Actress award in Berlin for her role in Gloria) who has learned to disguise her inability to read or write. Jackeline is a young unemployed elementary school teacher who tries to convince Ximena to take classes with her. Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, until one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure from childhood: a letter Ximena’s father left when he abandoned her many years before.

Based on a true story that occurred in 1974, The Quispe Girls is the tale of three Coya sisters, Justa, Lucía and Luciana Quispe, who live on the rugged, isolated slopes of the Chilean Altiplano. They live an intimate and solitary existence as goatherders, with minimal contact with the outside world. The recent death of a fourth sister and hushed whisperings from the south of a brutal new political regime, force the sisters into an existential quest that will threaten their entire way of life. An exquisite and haunting meditation on the profundity of loss.