From April 25 to May 5, Hot Docs will be held in Toronto, Canada, a documentary festival and market in which Chile will have an important participation.
Specifically, there will be the world premieres of “The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine,” a feature film in International Competition, directed by Alfredo Pourailly and produced by Francisco Hervé; “Sincronía”, part of the Persister section, directed by Carol Bloj and produced by Claudia León; and “The Broken Goddess,” a short film directed and produced by Ximena Pereira, which will have its North American premiere in the World Showcase section.
Chilean filmmakers and producers will attend the festival and market thanks to the support of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. Representing Chiledoc will be Paola Castillo, deputy director of the brand that promotes Chilean documentaries.
Participants
“The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine” is a co-production between Chile and the Netherlands, which is about Toto, who has been searching for gold in Tierra del Fuego for 40 years. His work routine severely damages his body, and the doctor tells him that he cannot continue working in the mine or he will die. But he can’t stop because he doesn’t have the right to social security. His cowboy son Jorge designs a machine that will bring them a better future.
“Sincronía”, meanwhile, is a sensory immersion in the vital journey of two women and their relationship of pleasure and pain with the sea. An islander dives into the ocean and swims alongside sea lions, embracing her freedom. A swimmer immerses herself in the icy waters of glaciers and polar currents, pushing her resistance to the limit. Both inhabit an aquatic universe whose nature can be as beautiful as it is brutal.
Finally, “The Broken Goddess” reviews the myth of María Lionza, the goddess of Venezuela, which merges with the experience of an emigrant filmmaker who longs for her lost Goddess. Throughout two decades of filming, the film reveals the facets of the fracture of the iconic statue of the Goddess in the middle of a Caracas marked by a sharp political and social division. Different eras come together to explore a rupture that is not just that of a statue. It is the story of Venezuela and of every Venezuelan who feels torn by a war that never belonged to them. It is also the wound of those who live in the nothingness of an immigrant life.
Prestige
For Carolina Arredondo, Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, “Chile enjoys recognized international prestige in the field of documentary film and its presence once again at the most prestigious documentary festival in North America is proof of this.”
For her part, Paola Castillo, deputy director of Chiledoc, points out that “these films greatly project the diversity, great artistic quality and depth of the content of our cinema.”
