For his debut feature film Chilean writer/director Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo adapted his own short film San Cristabel which won the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlinale in 2015. It is a beautifully executed queer love story that is a near perfect as it could be. Lucas (Samuel González) has just won a scholarship to … Continue reading
Despite all the problems in the world, 2020 has seen a remarkable crop of such excellent queer debut feature films from first time directors/writers. Forgotten Roads from Chilean filmmaker Nicol Ruiz Benavides is right up there amongst them. Kudos for both his script and his visual interpretation but especially for the sublimely nuanced performance … Continue reading
It’s an unbearably hot Santiago Christmas Eve 1986 in those pre-tech days before cellphones were invented and when families still had to talk to each other. However Borja (Cristóbal Rodríguez-Costabal) ‘s family don’t. Well not very much. He’s a precocious teenager about to turn 17 and obsessed with movies especially the stack of obscure … Continue reading
Sebastián Lelio’s extraordinary wonderful new movie gets to the very core of Chilean society’s inbred homophobia and transphobia that threatens the very existence of Marina (Daniela Vega) the protagonist simply because they resent the very fact that she had been the light of her dead lover’s life. The movie opens with 57-year-old Orlando (Francisco Reyes) getting ready … Continue reading
Despite several very disquieting factors about Chilean filmmaker Fernando Guzzoni’s story about a dysfunctional father/son relationship, the drama does nevertheless make for compelling viewing. For most of the week 18 year old Jesús (Nicolás Durán) is left alone to his own devices in Santiago whilst his father (Alejandro Goic ) is away working, and rather than go to school or … Continue reading