Chilean filmmakers

Chilean director Raúl, or Raoul, Ruiz (1941-2011) was one of the most exciting and innovative filmmakers to emerge from 1960s World Cinema, providing more intellectual fun and artistic experimentation, shot for shot, than any filmmaker since Jean-Luc Godard. A guerrilla who uncompromisingly assaulted the preconceptions of film art, this frightfully prolific figure -he made over 100 films in 40 years- did not adhere to any one style of filmmaking. He worked in 35mm, 16mm and video, for theatrical release and for European TV, and on documentary and fiction features and shorts. His career began in avant-garde theatre where, between 1956 and 1962, he wrote over 100 plays. Although he never directed any of these productions, he did dabble in TV and filmmaking in the early 1960s. In 1968, with the release of his first completed feature, the Cassavetes-like Three Sad Tigers (1968), Ruiz became one of the key Chilean directors of New Latin American Cinema. A committed though critical supporter of the Marxist government of Salvador Allende, Ruiz was forced to flee his country after the fascist coup of 1973. Living in exile in Paris from that time onwards, he found a forum for his ideas in European TV and was championed by the critics of Cahiers du Cinéma, several of whom appeared in his first European successes, The Suspended Vocation (1978) and L'hypothèse du tableau volé (1978), two enigmatic Pierre Klossowski adaptations. Between 1980 and his death in 2011, Ruiz was one of the world's most productive but least known auteurs, in part through a long-term working relationship with Portuguese producer Paulo Branco. Other regular collaborators included Ruiz's wife and editor Valeria Sarmiento, composer Jorge Arriagada, cinematographers Sacha Vierny, Henri Alekan and Ricardo Aronovich, writers Gilbert Adair and Pascal Bonitzer, and actor Melvil Poupaud. Key early works from this period included the surrealistic masterpieces Three Crowns of the Sailor (1982), City of Pirates (1983) and Manuel on the Island of Wonders (1984), three of his many French-Portuguese co-productions perversely yet charmingly addressing the recurring Ruizian themes of childhood, exile, and maritime and rural folklore. In the 1990s, Ruiz embarked on larger projects with prominent actors such as John Hurt, Marcello Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert and John Malkovich, alternating this sporadic mainstream art-house endeavour with his usual low-budget experimental productions and the teaching of his Poetics of Cinema (two volumes of which he published in 1995 and 2007). In the 1990s and 2000s, he also shot several films and TV series' in Chile, though usually without Chilean funding. Ruiz is beloved among cinephiles as a poet of oneiric imagery and a fabulist of labyrinthine stories-within-stories whose films slip effortlessly from reality to imagination and back again. A manipulator of wild intellectual games in which the rules are forever changing, Ruiz's techniques were as varied as film itself; a collection of bizarre angles, close-ups and deep-focus compositions, bewildering POV shots, dazzling colours, and labyrinthine narratives which weave and dodge the viewer's grasp with every shot. As original as Ruiz was, one can tell much about him by the diversity of his influences; he was clearly inspired by Jorge Luis Borges, Robert Louis Stevenson, Orson Welles, "Left Bank" New Wave directors such as Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, and baroque low-budget Hollywood B-movie directors like Edgar G. Ulmer, Ford Beebe and Reginald Le Borg. His erudition also extended to medieval theology, Renaissance theatre and quantum physics. Ruiz remains a much-admired auteur on the European continent, having won prestigious prizes at Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastián, Locarno, Rome and Rotterdam. He is little-known in his native Chile, however, despite having made the widely seen Little White Dove (1992), receiving several major arts prizes and having a National Day of Mourning dedicated to him on the day of his burial there. In the English-speaking world, only a handful of Ruiz's films have been distributed and it is on these few films that his reputation there is built: most notably, major art-house fare such as the Ophüls- and Visconti-inspired Marcel Proust's Time Regained (1999) but also Comedy of Innocence (2000), Klimt (2006) and Mysteries of Lisbon (2011) and straight-to-video thriller pastiches like Shattered Image (1998) and Blind Revenge (2009). Little of his huge oeuvre is available on DVD. The works that are, however, bear witness to Ruiz's unique genius.

Alejandro Jodorowsky was born in Tocopilla, Chile on February 17, 1929. In 1939 he moved to Santiago where he attended university, was a circus clown and a puppeteer. In 1953 he went to Paris and studied mime with Marcel Marceau. He worked with Maurice Chevalier there and made a short film, La cravate (1957). He also befriended the surrealists Roland Topor and Fernando Arrabal, and in 1962 these three created the "Panic Movement" in homage to the mythical god Pan. As part of this group Jodorowsky wrote several books and theatrical pieces. In the later 1960s he directed avant-garde theater in Paris and Mexico City, created the comic strip "Fabulas Panicas", and made his first "real" film, the surrealist love story Fando and Lis (1968), based on a play by Arrabal. In 1971, El Topo (1970) was released and became a cult classic, as did The Holy Mountain (1973). In 1975 he returned to France to begin work on a film that was never made: a colossal adaptation of Frank Herbert's "Dune", which was to star Orson Welles, Salvador Dalí and others, was to be scored by Pink Floyd, and which brought together the visionary talents of H.R. Giger, Dan O'Bannon, and 'Jean "Moebius' Giraud' (Giger and O'Bannon later collaborated on Alien (1979).) The project's financiers backed out, and "Dune" was eventually filmed by David Lynch. Jodorowsky's next film was 1979's Tusk (1980), a story of a young girl's friendship with an elephant, which quickly faded into obscurity. In the early 1980s he began working with Moebius and other artists on various comic strips, graphic novels and cartoons, and wrote several more books. He returned to film with 1989's Santa Sangre (1989), which was critically acclaimed and widely distributed. In 1990 he directed Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole in the fantasy film The Rainbow Thief (1990). Throughout the 1990s he continued to produce cartoons with a variety of graphic artists and is reportedly to begin work on another film, the long-awaited "Sons Of El Topo", sometime in 2002 or 2003. Jodorowsky's wife Valerie and sons Brontis, Axel and Adan have all at times appeared in his films.

Patricio Guzmán was born on 11 August 1941 in Santiago, Chile. He is a director and writer, known for Nostalgia for the Light (2010), The Battle of Chile: Part I (1975) and The Southern Cross (1991).

Pablo Larraín was born in Santiago, Chile. He is a director, writer and producer, known for Spencer (2021), Jackie (2016), El Club (2015), NO (2012), among others. Together with his brother Juan de Dios Larraín, they founded Fabula in 2004, one of the most prolific production companies in Latin America.

Born in 1974, Sebastián Lelio is one of the leading figures (along with Pablo Larraín, Andrés Wood and a few others) of the post-dictatorship Chilean cinema. After graduating from the "Escuela de Cine de Chile" in Santiago, Lelio started by making shorts (he made five from 1995 to 2003, as well as a documentary). From 2005 on, he directed four remarkable feature films, the first three very dark, the fourth one somewhat lighter, which all garnered awards in the festival circuit. The Sacred Family (2005) is kind of Chilean version of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema (1968). It was followed by Navidad (2009), a drama of uncommon intensity focusing on three teenagers alienated from their families and The Year of the Tiger (2011), recounting the escape of an inmate during Chile's 2010 earthquake. Coming after this taught triptych, Gloria (2013) surprises by its peaceful tone. The amorous adventures of Gloria, a sixty-year-old office worker in Santiago, although not without tensions and bitterness, are less upsetting than what Lelio had filmed before. But whether dark or rosy, Lelio's cinema explores the Chilean society of today with the same acuteness.

Miguel Littin was born on 9 August 1942 in Palmilla, Colchagua, VI Region, Chile. He is a director and writer, known for La Última Luna (2005), Letters from Marusia (1975) and Jackal of Nahueltoro (1969). He has been married to Ely Menz since 1963. They have one child.

José Bohr was born on 3 September 1901 in Bonn, Germany. He was a director and producer, known for Luponini de Chicago (1935), The Whip (1939) and Dreams of Love (1935). He was married to Eva Limiñana. He died on 29 May 1994 in Oslo, Norway.

Andrés Wood (1965, Chile). After studying economics at the University of Chile he left for New York, where he attended a film course. When he returned to Chile he made his first feature film 'Historias de fútbol' which was a box-office hit.

Silvio Caiozzi was born on 3 July 1944 in Santiago, Chile. He is a director and producer, known for Coronación (2000), Cachimba (2004) and La Luna en el Espejo (1990).

Helvio Soto was born on 21 February 1930 in Santiago, Chile. He was a director and writer, known for Erase un niño, un guerrillero, un caballo... (1967), El ABC del amor (1967) and Il pleut sur Santiago (1975). He died on 29 November 2001 in Santiago, Chile.

Aldo Francia was born on 30 August 1923 in Valparaíso, Chile. He was a director and writer, known for Ya no basta con rezar (1972), Valparaíso, mi amor (1969) and State of Siege (1972). He died in October 1996.

Patricio Kaulen was born on 8 April 1921 in Santiago, Chile. He was a director and writer, known for Largo viaje (1967), Encrucijada (1947) and La casa en que vivimos (1970). He died on 23 February 1999 in Santiago de Chile, Chile.

Chilean writer-director and editor who studied philosophy and filmmaking at the University of Chile in the 1960s. Based in Paris since 1974, her documentaries and feature films tend to address Latin American gender politics but she is probably best known as the regular editor and collaborator of her late husband Raúl Ruiz (1941-2011) with whom she shared the Chilean Art Critics Circle's Bicentennial Award for cinema in 2010. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1988 and is often cited alongside Angelina Vázquez and Marilú Mallet as a key woman filmmaker of Chilean exile. A retrospective of her work as director was held at Stanford University in May 2008.

Gonzalo Justiniano was born on 20 December 1955 in Santiago de Chile, Chile. He is a director and writer, known for B-Happy (2003), Amnesia (1994) and Have You Seen Lupita? (2011).

Born in Chillán, Chile in 1912, Davison worked in Hollywood as a comic actor in Spanish-language films for MGM (Así es la vida (1930) and La fuerza del querer (1930)) before MGM suspended production. He made his directorial debut in Argentina in 1937. He subsequently worked in Mexico and Spain, directing comedies such as El baño de Afrodita (1949) and sentimental dramas such as May God Forgive Me (1948), Un cuerpo de mujer (1949), Negro es mi color (1951) and Cabo de Hornos (1956).

Pedro Sienna was born on 13 May 1893 in San Fernando, Colchagua, VI Region, Chile. He was an actor and director, known for El húsar de la muerte (1925), La última trasnochada (1925) and El hombre de acero (1917). He died on 10 March 1972 in Santiago, Chile.

He was the eighth son of Alfredo Delano and Emma Frederick. Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1909 he joined the Naval School but remained there for only one year, after purposely fracturing his nose in order to get out.

In 1911 Jorge Delano was accepted into the "Instituto Nacional", the most prestigious school in Chile. In 1913, he commenced his studies of painting at the "Escuela de Bellas Artes" with Fernando Alvarez Sotomayor. In the same year, Delano wrote and filmed his first movie, "El Billete de Loteria" (he also acted in the movie, but under a pseudonym, in order to hide the fact that he had skipped class several times in order to film).

Coke began his professional career as a caricaturist in the "Diario Ilustrado", which became an opposition paper to the government of Arturo Alessandri Palma. Then he worked in the newspaper "La Nacion" until 1931, where he created one of his most important caricatures, "Juan Verdejo Larrain".

In 1929, he went to California, USA, with a scholarship given by the chilean government, to study sound cinematography techniques. He never received the scholarship money, so he supported his family by making art exhibits and acting as an extra.

He later returned to Chile, whee he filmed "La Calle del Ensueno" and then "Norte y Sur", the first movie with sound in South America.

In 1942, Delano hosted Walt Disney's visit to Chile, with whom he developed a close friendship. In the short "Saludos Amigos" by Walt Disney, "Pedrito" the plane carries a letter from Mendoza (Argentina) to Santiago, and the recipient is Jorge Delano.

In 1931, he founded along with Joaquin Blaya and Jorge Sanhueza, the political satire magazine, "Topaze", which was very well received by the public.

In 1964, he was given the National Prize fro Journalism. He published three books: "Yo Soy Tu", "Botica de Turnio y Kundalini", and "El Caballo Fatidico". He also portrayed Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Arturo Alessandri Palma, Carlos Balmaceda Saavedra, and Luis Barros Borgono.

Pedro Chaskel was born on 2 August 1932 in Berlin, Germany. He was an editor and director, known for Venceremos (1970), Érase una vez (1966) and Colono en tierra de fuego (1999). He was married to Fedora Robles. He died on 20 February 2024 in Chile.

Ricardo Larraín was born on 27 April 1957 in Santiago de Chile, Chile. He was a producer and director, known for La Frontera (1991), El entusiasmo (1998) and Pasos de baile (1997). He died on 21 March 2016 in Chile.

Alicia Scherson was born in 1974 in Santiago, Chile. She is a director and writer, known for Tourists (2009), Play (2005) and Il Futuro (2013).

Rolando Klein was born on 16 July 1942 in Santiago, Chile. He is a director and writer, known for Chac (1975).

Naum Kramarenco was born on 19 March 1923 in Valparaiso, Chile. He was a writer and director, known for Regreso al silencio (1967), Deja que los perros ladren (1961) and Prohibido pisar las nubes (1970). He died on 3 October 2013 in Santiago, Chile.

Álvaro J. Covacevich is known for Morir un poco (1966), La revolución de las flores (1968) and Chile, el gran desafío (1973).

Matías Bize was born on 9 August 1979 in Santiago de Chile, Metropolitan Region, Chile. He is a director and writer, known for The Memory of Water (2015), The Life of Fish (2010) and About Crying (2006). He has been married to Constanza Varela since 25 August 2022. They have one child.

Armando Parot is known for Petróleo chileno (1955).