SANTIAGO – Dios or God, from the Chilean collective MAFI (Mapa Fílmico de una País) is part of the official selection of the next edition of the Visions du Réel festival, a prominent Swiss event running between April 5-13 in the city of Nyon.

The film will have its world premiere on April 10, while its national premiere is scheduled for May 2 through the Miradoc program.

God, registered under the lens of this group of filmmakers, depicts the largest religious crisis in the history of Chile after the January 2018 visit of the highest authority of the Catholic Church: Pope Francis.

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The direction of the film is in charge of Josefina Buschmann, Israel Pimentel and Christopher Murray, who will travel to Switzerland to participate in the International Media and Short Film Competition of the Festival.

Murray explains the enthusiasm with which they receive the team “as a team we are happy to return to Visions du Réel, a festival where five years ago we won the jury prize for our previous work, the documentary Propaganda. We realize that, despite its age, it is still a festival that bets on new languages and continues to risk its programming, which is why we feel it is the best place for the premiere.”

El Guru, directed by Rory Barrientos and produced by Gabriela Sandoval, Carlos Núñez and Rory Barrientos, participates in the Burning Lights International Competition, and portrays the daily routine of an operator of the Castro salmon food industry, Chiloé, who in his spare time He has resumed his career as a professional boxer.

“It is very important for a debut film like El Guru to be in Visions du Réel, because it allows a local production, filmed on an island in southern Chile that focuses on a character and a daily and intimate reality, to have a great international projection It is also a great opportunity to continue strengthening our work as producers of documentaries, considering the great platform offered by the festival and its industry space,” affirms Gabriela Sandoval, executive producer of the film.

Meanwhile, the short film En todas partes y aquí, directed by Flavia Contreras and produced by Isabel Baeza, exemplifies, through the figure of a young woman, the colonization and the political, cultural and geographical changes that Chilean Antarctic has experienced. The film participates in the Opening Scenes section, dedicated to the first short films or student films.

“We both wanted to premiere at this festival, it is an opportunity to share with directors who are crossing a moment similar to ours,” explains his producer, Isabel Baeza.

Daniel Laguna, executive secretary of the Audiovisual Promotion Fund of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, affirms that “for us as a Ministry to support our creators and make their work visible both nationally and internationally, it is an imperative, even in one of the most important festivals in the documentary genre, such as Visions du Réel, that is why we support a delegation that will arrive in Nyon with our cinema, our stories, our contingency, in short, our Chile.”

“The Chilean documentary sector celebrates being at the 50th anniversary of Visions du Réel with three films selected in its official sections, with a strong concern for the author, the aesthetics and the cinema, which will make people speak for their quality,” says Diego Pino, director of the Chiledoc sector brand.

“The Chilean presence accounts for a diverse sector that is projected to the world collectively. This year is also our first year as a Chiledoc sectorial brand, representing the entire sector formally, a fact that emphasizes and consolidates the presence of the Chilean documentary,” he adds.

The delegation, coordinated by Chiledoc and financed by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, will arrive in Switzerland with projects that challenge new languages. The filmmakers and producers will hold meetings with programmers, distributors, decision makers and market agents.

Amanda Rutllant, from Cábala, takes projects that give a creative and original look to the field of science in Chile. “Our country is a true natural laboratory where some of the most profound and transcendental questions are explored regarding our place in the Universe,” says Rutllant, who assists with Los pandas de Los Andres and Asteroide 2518.

“First time we participate in a market of this scope, with the possibility of internationalizing our content, an opportunity to find strategic allies for different stages of our projects,” says Ignacio Hernández of Para Amanda Films, producer of Umut (which means hope).

The delegation consists of: Christopher Murray, Israel Pimentel and Josefina Buschmann, (MAFI Foundation); Rory Barrientos, director, Gabriela Sandoval and Carlos Núñez (Storyboard Media); Flavia Contreras and Isabel Baeza; Jaime Pinto (Collapse Productions); Ignacio Hernández (For Amanda Films); Amanda Rutlland (Cabala); Miguel Soffia (We are South); Michel Toledo (Totem Productions); and Diego Pino, director of the Chiledoc sector brand and coordinator of the mission.

Chiledoc is a public-private partnership between the Chilean Documentation Corporation CCDoc and ProChile, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.