‘Journeys of Desexilio : the bridge between the past and the present’
2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13642529.2014.898421
ISSN1470-1154
Autores Tópico(s)Memory, violence, and history
ResumoAbstractThis article argues that despite the blossoming post-dictatorship Chilean documentary production and the growing scholarly interest that these works have aroused, little has been done to see these recent documentaries in relation to the prolific production of the so-called 'Chilean cinema in exile', which remains, for the most part, in 'exile'. This article draws on the notion of desexilio developed by Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti to revisit homecoming documentaries of the 1980s. It focuses on the seminal Fragments from an Unfinished Diary (Angelina Vázquez, 1983) to argue that although this and other early cinematic returns have been deeply overlooked, they stand as clear antecedents to the so-called 'performative' or 'autobiographical' shift in current Chilean documentary. The directors' memories of exile and return shed light to the multiple ways in which the Chilean nation has been visualised and reshaped after the cataclysmic event of the 1973 military coup d'état.Keywords:: Pinochet dictatorshipexilememoryhomecomingpolitical documentary AcknowledgementsI would like to thank my PhD supervisors Stella Bruzzi and John King who have provided me with valuable feedback on earlier drafts of this article. I am also deeply grateful to Angelina Vázquez who has not only given me precious insights into her work, but who has also honoured me with her friendship. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Louise Spence who generously invited me to participate in this special issue and carefully reviewed this article. Finally, I would like to thank Jose´ Miguel Palacios for enriching conversation.Notes 1. This is an extract from the opening narration of the first of the four episodes of Chile: The Forbidden Images, aired from 14 August to 4 September 2013 on Chilevisión. Unless otherwise indicated, all English translations of original sources in Spanish are mine. 2. After the emission of its first episode, 68 complaints were lodged with the state organism that watches over the correct functioning of national television; the majority considered that the programme 'provoked hatefulness and division in the country'. See, for instance, 'Chile: imágenes prohibidas acumula un centenar de reclamos en el CNTV por 'odiosidad y división"', La Tercera, August 23, 2013. http://www.latercera.com/noticia/entretencion/2013/08/661-539181-9-chile-imagenes-prohibidas-acumula-reclamos-al-cntv-por-odiosidad-y-division.shtml (accessed August 24, 2013). The programme accumulated a total of 270 complaints. See Reyes (Citation2013). 3. The most thorough catalogue remains the one elaborated by Pick (Citation1984) with the collaboration of the Cinemateca Chilena (sic), which accounted a total of 176 films. Mouesca adds two films later that gives a total of 178 productions (Citation1988, 143–144). 4. A recent investigation by the Cineteca Nacional de Chile appears as an initial official step to contribute to redressing this situation. It is a large inventory – though not yet completed – of productions of Chilean origin and about Chile dispersed around the world (Villarroel et al. Citation2008). 5. In the absence of a proper equivalent in the English language I shall leave the concept in Spanish. The neologism desexilio was coined by Benedetti for the first time in his novel Primavera con una esquina rota (Citation1984, 9–10). He later published a brief article in El País, 18 April 1983, under the title of 'El Desexilio' in which he further develops the concept. This was reprinted in El Desexilio y otras conjeturas (1984). 6. In 1988, the first democratic elections were held in the country since the overthrown of Allende; Chilean citizens voted 'No' (54.71%) or 'Yes' (43.01%) for Pinochet to remain in power. After his defeat, the dictator stepped out from the office in 1990 but remained as a Commander-in-Chief of the Army. 7. Due to the complex production conditions, the definite formation of the collective has remained contested, but the members included Hernán Castro, Mario Díaz, Jaime Reyes, Gastón Ancelovici and René Davila. 8. The film has been credited recently to Guillermo Cahn, Carlos Flores del Pino, Alfonso Luco, Jaime Reyes, José Román, Raquel Salinas and José de la Vega (the crew in Chile), and Fedora Robles, Pedro Chaskel and Nelson Villagra (the crew in Cuba). 9. Carmen Castillo's homecoming documentaries include La Flaca Alejandra/Skinny Alejandra (co-directed by Guy Guirard, 1994), El País de mi padre [My Father's Country] (2004) and Calle Santa Fe/Santa Fe Street (2007); besides Letter from a Filmmaker or The Return of a Library Lover, Raúl Ruiz made the four-part Cofralandes, rapsodia chilena/Cofralandes, Chilean Rhapsody (2002) in Chile, among other films; and Patricio Guzmán's post-dictatorship returns include Chile, la memoria obstinada [Chile, Obstinate Memory] (1997), Salvador Allende (2004) and Nostalgia de la luz/Nostalgia for the Light (2010).10. Video production also proliferated in Chile during these turbulent times, its practitioners seeking 'to play a vanguard role in the process of cultural democratization' (Altamirano Citation1990, 21); the thousands of hours captured so courageously are frequently utilised by post-dictatorship audio-visual productions. For the most recent account on the prolific video scene of the country see Liñero (Citation2010).11. For the leading role that women have played in the post-dictatorship documentary landscape see Mouesca (Citation2005, 131–136). For a focus on Carmen Castillo, see Ramírez Soto (Citation2011), and on 'second-generation' accounts, see Ramírez Soto (forthcoming).12. Bruzzi theorises the non-fiction journey as being essentially performative, constructed around multiple encounters (not only between the director and her subject, but also between her and the spectator, with the director often being side-tracked by these encounters), and presenting different degrees of reflexivity (questioning the nature of non-fiction representation).13. Indeed, Wright and Oñate remark that by 1994, when the short-lived governmental institution created by President Patricio Aywin's administration to aid returnees in their settlement closed, a majority of exiles had not returned. The Oficina Nacional de Retorno was created in 1990 and helped to settle 56,000 returnees, as reported by the authors (Wright and Oñate Citation1998, 200).14. Personal email correspondence, 6 November 2013. The testimonies include a whole range of characters, from shanty town dwellers condemned by the regime to 'internal exile', to popular folksingers such as Isabel Aldunate. Perhaps one of the most poignant accounts is the one delivered by Irma Silva, the mother of Jorge Müller, the legendary cameraman of La batalla de Chile/The Battle of Chile (Patricio Guzmán, 1972–1979) who remains disappeared until today. Müller was Vázquez's close friend and collaborator and they worked together in Crónicas del salitre [Nitrate Chronicles] (1971) the only film she completed before fleeing into exile.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by CONICYT-Becas Chile doctoral scholarship.Notes on contributorsElizabeth Ramírez SotoElizabeth Ramírez Soto is currently completing her doctoral thesis on Chilean post-dictatorship documentary at the University of Warwick. She has published articles in journals such as Aisthesis and the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. She is now co-editing a bilingual collection of essays on the work of the Chilean filmmakers Marilu´ Mallet, Valeria Sarmiento and Angelina Va´zquez.
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