Patricio Guzmán
“A country without documentary films is like a family without a photo album”
Born in Santiago de Chile in 1941, Guzman is known for the films The Battle of Chile (1977-80), Salvador Allende (2004) and Nostalgia for the Light (2010). His films typically employ the Kino Pravda style developed by Dziga Vertov in the ealry 1920s, in which the director stays away from the bourgeois concerns in order to give the role of protagonist to groups of people. Guzman employs a provocative stance towards each of his film´s topics, which usually praise the Chilean popular unity that brought socialism to power in 1973, and criticizes not only the factors that destroyed that Popular Unity, but also its instigators and their practices.
Major Films:
- The Battle of Chile, Parts 1-3
- Salvador Allende
Articles:
- The importance of Documentary Filmmaking:
In this article, Patricio Guzman mentions the importance of Vertov in the first and second generation of legendary documentary filmmakers, but Guzman also puts in words what a documentary filmmaker is following the two pioneer generations. Guzman, a member of a third generation, mentions that documentary has become more human, depicting the every day life activities of humans — a developed Vertov´s Kino Eye.
- Stains on the Negative:
In this article, Patricio Guzman advocates for the importance of staged documentary filmmaking. Guzman elaborates on the how documentary is a mixed medium with staged locations and sequences, like Vertov did filming Man with the Movie Camera. Guzman writes that, ”Documentary filmmaking is no longer found in a ´pure objective´ state, documentary film practice is formed by parts of other cinematic languages.”
- The History of Chilean Documentary Filmmaking:
In this article, Patricio Guzman mentions that documentary cinema began in Chile thanks to Joris Ivens (one of Vertov´s most renown followers), and how he was interested in depicting Pablo Neruda and Salvador Allende´s presidential campaigns, which inspired the generation of Chilean filmmakers that produced The Battle of Chile. Guzman writes, “A generation of specialized documentary filmmakers appeared, who applied themselves to the political changes that the Popular Unity's pacifist revolution proposed, as well as its contradictions. It was a cinema-verité made on the doorstep of the occurrences, as imperfect as it was necessary, under the influence of the "Cinema Novo" that came from Brazil, from the Cuban Santiago Alvarez, and from the "Cine de la Base" that came from Argentina.
Official Website
Major Films:
- The Battle of Chile, Parts 1-3
- Salvador Allende
Articles:
- The importance of Documentary Filmmaking:
In this article, Patricio Guzman mentions the importance of Vertov in the first and second generation of legendary documentary filmmakers, but Guzman also puts in words what a documentary filmmaker is following the two pioneer generations. Guzman, a member of a third generation, mentions that documentary has become more human, depicting the every day life activities of humans — a developed Vertov´s Kino Eye.
- Stains on the Negative:
In this article, Patricio Guzman advocates for the importance of staged documentary filmmaking. Guzman elaborates on the how documentary is a mixed medium with staged locations and sequences, like Vertov did filming Man with the Movie Camera. Guzman writes that, ”Documentary filmmaking is no longer found in a ´pure objective´ state, documentary film practice is formed by parts of other cinematic languages.”
- The History of Chilean Documentary Filmmaking:
In this article, Patricio Guzman mentions that documentary cinema began in Chile thanks to Joris Ivens (one of Vertov´s most renown followers), and how he was interested in depicting Pablo Neruda and Salvador Allende´s presidential campaigns, which inspired the generation of Chilean filmmakers that produced The Battle of Chile. Guzman writes, “A generation of specialized documentary filmmakers appeared, who applied themselves to the political changes that the Popular Unity's pacifist revolution proposed, as well as its contradictions. It was a cinema-verité made on the doorstep of the occurrences, as imperfect as it was necessary, under the influence of the "Cinema Novo" that came from Brazil, from the Cuban Santiago Alvarez, and from the "Cine de la Base" that came from Argentina.
Official Website
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The Battle of Chile I-II-III
The Battle of Chile is a historical documentary filmed as the events took place without any manipulation from the director. Like the fly-in-the-wall crews that emerged from the Direct Cinema in North America in the 1960´s inspired by Kino Pravda, the director worked with a crew in the midst of events. Guzman captures in The Battle of Chile fragments of Chilean political history between 1969 and 1973. Rather than having Salvador Allende as the film's hero, Guzman depicts the people and their president as the protagonist. Thus, the importance of the people is underlined, as Vertov did in his own films, since the kino-pravda series were based on depicting the common people in opposition to bourgeois interests and concerns. This film was made possible by Chris Marker - one of the most beloved researchers of early Soviet cinema - who provided not only the film-stock, but also advice during the editing.
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Salvador Allende
Guzman himself defines this film as a direct homage, without explicative or informative explanations, to Chile's ex-president in order to remind audiences of the radiant dream that a generation lived in 1969. Guzman mentions that this film offers a space for reflection, as John Mackey pointed out in his article "Enthusiasm and the Ear of the Collective" about Vertov. So the film becomes a space where viewers experience a sensory expansion that is at once a cognitive and a social expansion, a place for encountering other citizens in terms of what they experience every day. Guzman made this film not only for his generation or his fellow Chileans, but also for other generations and for other parts of the world, about the dreamof political change that once lived in Chile.