1976

“1976” by Manuela Martelli (Chile, 2022) is set three years after the coup, in one of the bloodiest years of the Pinochet dictatorship. Carmen (Aline Küppenheim), a bourgeois housewife from Santiago, drives to the coast to prepare the family’s beach house in Las Cruces. The village priest asks her for help: a young man lies injured in his care, and Carmen has medical knowledge and a reputation as a benefactress. She agrees. She soon realises that Elías (Nicolás Sepúlveda) is a persecuted opponent of the regime – and that with every visit she is drawn deeper into underground work that puts her sheltered but unfulfilled life at stake.

Chilean actress Manuela Martelli directs her debut feature, written with Alejandra Moffat, as a historical thriller without release: the threat remains a constant undertone, the music keeps the tension quiet and uncanny, and the camera observes Carmen from above and in reflections, as if she were under surveillance. The dictatorship shows itself not in uniforms but in glances and courtesies. It premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes in 2022; the London Film Festival awarded it the Sutherland Award for best debut. “1976” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2022.

Shown at the 2022 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2022 · Film Archive