Set during the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, Chile ‘76 builds from a character study to a suspenseful thriller as it explores one woman’s precarious experience with political engagement. Carmen (Aline Kuppenheim) lives a sheltered life. She heads to her summer house in the off-season to supervise its renovation, while also performing local charitable works through her church. Her husband, children, and grandchildren come back and forth, bringing reminders of the world beyond. When the family priest asks her to take care of an injured young man he has been sheltering in secret, Carmen is inadvertently drawn into the world of the Chilean political opposition and must face real-world threats she is unprepared to handle, with potentially disastrous consequences for her and her entire family. 2022, Chile/Argentina, 95 minutes, Spanish with English subtitles.
Chile ’76, by Manuela Martelli, is brought to you by Rivertown Film in collaboration with the Global Film Series and the annual Hispanic & Latina/o/x Heritage Month hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas College.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état in Chile, September 11, when General and military dictator Augusto Pinochet, with the support of the CIA, orchestrated the fall of the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. To commemorate and reflect on the occasion, Rivertown Film and St. Thomas Aquinas College come together to honor the history and cultural heritage through the lens of cinema. We invite you to join us in the screening and presentation of Chile ’76 by Manuela Martelli,
Chile ’76 not only commemorates a significant anniversary in Chilean history but also holds a mirror to the broader struggles for democracy, human rights, and social justice that reverberated across continents. The film presents an opportunity for us to engage in a dialogue about the consequences of political upheaval, the resilience of communities, and the power of art to bear witness to collective experiences.
Chile ’76 debuted internationally at the Cannes Film Festival and was awarded Best First Film at the London Film Festival. In addition, Manuela Martelli won Best Director at the Athens Film Festival, and Kuppenheim won Best Actress at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
– New York Times
“Finely controlled and tense with the perpetual promise of violence… [and] a hell of a performance from Küppenheim as the heroine.” – The New Yorker
“A gripping psychological thriller … one of the finest Latin American productions to open stateside this year” – Los Angeles Times
“Critic’s Pick! A sly genre exercise, an example of how political repression can squeeze a domestic melodrama until it takes the shape of a spy thriller.” “A visually and tonally meticulous exploration of political resistance and conscience.” –The New York Times
“Dazzling. What begins as a muted marital melodrama slowly boils into a restrained political thriller, with an ease and skill all the more impressive in a first feature.” – Variety
“This searingly intense character study sees a woman questioning her cosy bourgeois lifestyle in Pinochet’s Chile. An invaluable demonstration of feminine revolutionary cinema.” – Little White Lies
“Must-Watch! Chile ’76 is the foreign film you’d be ashamed to miss… A period thriller of beguiling power, energized by its portrait of one woman’s heroism.” – The Daily Beast
“Shrewdly compelling. Aline Kuppenheim is excellent in a film that leverages its genre into an unnervingly timeless study of authoritarianism.” – Indiewire
