- “The Eternal Memory” from Maite Alberdi and “Mutt” from Vuk Lungulov-Klotz are representing Chile at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival. 22 Chilean production companies will also be presenting their projects to the global film industry. The Chilean delegation of more than 40 representatives has an onsite stand at the event and has produced a digital guide with details of Chile’s participation.
- Chilean cinema arrives in Berlin at its best moment after a record-breaking year at global award ceremonies, winning 219 awards at international festivals. Our country also saw the highest participation of women in its cinematic history; 37 female directors and producers shone at the main international festivals, where they received 88 awards.
The Berlin International Film Festival got under way this February 16, its first full onsite edition after the pandemic. It also marks Chile’s return to this first major event in the annual festival calendar, with a delegation that includes film and series projects, at a very promising time for Chilean cinema around the world.
Our country is represented by a delegation of more than 40 Chileans in the festival’s different sections. “The Eternal Memory” from Maite Alberdi and “Mutt” from Vuk Lungulov-Klotz are the highlights, following their award-winning run at the Sundance Film Festival.
“The Eternal Memory”
This year, Chile offers a surprise at the European Film Market (EFM), with 22 national production companies participating. Seven of them – Equeco, Juntos Films, Mar Pictures, Mesa Redonda Studio, Quijote Films, Storyboard Media and Wood Productions – are supported by the Cultures, Arts and Heritage Ministry. They are participating alongside three others in the Berlinale Talents section, two projects in the Screenings section and two more in the Feature Film Pitch section.
Chile’s return to Berlin is promising, according to international producer from CinemaChile, Ashley Salman: “We’ve built a great relationship with the market and, in this edition, we are looking to continue strengthening. This delegation comes with a strong presence of stories about women and young people. There are also comedies and genre films: police, historical and action.”
Chilean-German co-production agreement
Trade commissioner at ProChile Berlin, Germán Vergara, emphasizes that work “at the Berlinale is key to continue positioning the Chilean audio-visual industry in the European market.” These efforts have now been strengthened thanks to the recent co-production agreement signed with Germany in late December, which will be presented in a networking space between producers from both countries on February 20.
President of the Asociación de Productores de Cine y Televisión de Chile (Chilean Association of Film and Television Producers, APCT), Gabriela Sándoval, explains that a key part of the agreement is that productions have dual nationality. This “gives them access to promotional benefits and instruments and/or any tax advantages that exist in either country, whether the production is majority Chilean or German.”
This agreement joins those signed with Argentina, Brazil, France, Italy and Venezuela, which allow access to different sources of financing and facilitate the temporary entry of technical and artistic personnel, as well as the import and export of additional production company material.
Chile present with a documentary on climate change
As part of Chile’s participation at the Berlinale 2023, an unprecedented activity will take place on Saturday, February 18: the “Chile Event”, organized by CinemaChile, ProChile and Imagen de Chile. Producer Juan de Dios Larraín, from Fábula Productions, and Magdalena Atria, the Chilean Ambassador to Germany, will present the documentary: “I am the Earth. Stories from the Southern Edge of the World”. The documentary shows the efforts that Chilean men and women are making to help mitigate climate change, as part of the leadership that Chile is taking in this matter internationally. Chile was recently ranked by the NewClimate Institute as the country with the best performance in climate protection in all of the Americas, surpassed at a global level only by Denmark and Sweden.
“I am the Earth. Stories from the Southern Edge of the World”
“Chile is positioning itself as an important actor in mitigating climate change and protecting the ocean and ecosystems. Our turquoise foreign policy and subscription of carbon neutrality into law are examples of how we are moving forward with special emphasis on a sustainable development model, with public policies and citizen innovations of different scopes and magnitude. That is what we wanted to highlight in this documentary,” states the executive director of Imagen de Chile, Rossana Dresdner.
For more details on Chile’s participation at Berlin 2023, visit the CinemaChile website.
