Patricio Guzmán Campos

Photographer Patricio Guzmán Campos has died in exile. Silvia edited his retrospective book a few years ago and after learning about Patricio's death, she sits down to read again the letters he sent her, in which he reveals the feelings and reflections provoked by facing his photography during the process of making the book, where he sees a place that has been taken away from him, but which he tries to hold on to through his memories.

A peasant without money or work, sells his soul to "El Garrudo" in order to get wealth and marry the young and beautiful Petita. Years later, Juan Maula and "El Garrudo" debate in a duel of "payas" (a singing and composing competition) , where the peasant's soul and his freedom will be the prize.

In 1962 Joris Ivens was invited to Chile for teaching and filmmaking. Together with students he made …À Valparaiso, one of his most poetic films. Contrasting the prestigious history of the seaport with the present the film sketches a portrait of the city, built on 42 hills, with its wealth and poverty, its daily life on the streets, the stairs, the rack railways and in the bars. Although the port has lost its importance, the rich past is still present in the impoverished city. The film echoes this ambiguous situation in its dialectical poetic style, interweaving the daily life reality (of 1963) with the history of the city and changing from black and white to colour, finally leaving us with hopeful perspective for the children who are playing on the stairs and hills of this beautiful town.

Documentary filmed during the shooting of “À Valparaiso” which shows the children’s reactions to the performance of a circus show. “It is the tender gaze of a poet on the smallest circus in the world and his audience of children”.