Nostalgia for the Light

With director Patricio Guzmán Q&A

Trailer Link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=474232377263

France, Germany, Chile, 2010
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Screenwriter: Patricio Guzmán
Cinematographer: Katell Djian
Editors: Patricio Guzmán, Emmanuelle Joly
Composers: Miguel Miranda, José Tobar
Cast: Gaspar Calas, Lautaro Núnez, Luís Henriquez
Running Time: 90 minutes

In Patricio Guzmán’s poetic documentary about Chile’s Atacama Desert, archeologists search the sands and astronomers search the skies for clues to human origins, while a group of women search for the remains of dissenters who “disappeared” under the reign of General Pinochet. Guzmán connects these groups through their shared need to learn about the past in order to understand the present.

Nostalgia for the Light (Nostalgia de la Luz) is a film about the universe, man’s place in it, history and memory. From its opening sequences, the film takes us into the beautiful star-filled sky over the astronomical observatories in the Atacama desert. Through interviews, personal recollections of astronomy and its role in Chilean culture, and intricate filming of the observatories, Guzmán’s camera and narration guides the viewer into the grandiose physical universe, while simultaneously penetrating the intricacies of the human mind.

Since filming his documentary masterpiece on Allende’s Chile and Pinochet’s coup, The Battle of Chile, Patricio Guzmán has been considered an emblematic “political” filmmaker, closely identified with the history and political evolution of Chile. Nostalgia for the Light is his strongest film: philosophical, universal and personal as it explores the intersection between memory, history, science, eternity and the universe in the Atacama desert. Through interviews, personal meditation and observation of the archeological remains of past and recent history, the film brings us to understand the past as a way of imagining the future.

Film critic B. Ruby Rich conveys the excitement of this experience: “Nostalgia for the Light is Guzmán’s leap into a different sort of cinema: a philosophical treatise that is as stunning to the eye as it is disturbing to the brain … I was enthralled. So was the audience around me.” (SF 360).

Note: Q&A discussion between filmmakers and audience adds approximately 30 minutes to running time.