Manuela 1976

[Ulrike Dweck]

1976Mil novecientos setenta y seis), also known as Chile '76 in North America, is a 2022 Chilean-Argentine drama film[2] directed by Manuela Martelli in her directorial debut,[3] with a screenplay co-written by Martelli and Alejandra Moffat. The film premiered on 26 May 2022, in the Directors' Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival and was released in Chilean cinemas on 20 October 2022.[4][5] It was nominated in the Best Ibero-American Film category at the 37th Goya Awards.[6][7]

Carmen, a 50-year-old housewife from a middle-class family, enjoys a comfortable life in Santiago with her successful and respected doctor husband Miguel and their adult children. In the winter of 1976, three years after Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile through a coup and established a military dictatorship, Carmen travels to her summer house to oversee renovation work and take some time for herself. While there, Father Snchez, the priest of the small coastal town, asks for her help in caring for Elas, a young man who is part of the resistance against the dictator, has been wounded by a bullet, and has taken refuge with him. Because Carmen has medical knowledge and had once aspired to study medicine herself, and has also been involved in charitable projects in the church, she agrees to assist.[8][9][10][11]

1976 was directed by Chilean filmmaker Manuela Martelli, who co-wrote the screenplay with Alejandra Moffat. Martelli had previously worked on the Chilean horror stop-motion animated film La casa lobo. With 1976, Martelli made her feature film directorial debut, while also having appeared in more than 15 films as an actress.[9][12]

The film is set in 1976, the year when Martelli's maternal grandmother passed away, and she wanted to explore the experiences that told the story of a different reality through family videos shot with a Super-8 camera.[13]

The lead role of the housewife Carmen is played by Aline Kppenheim, a Chilean theater, film, and television actress of French descent, considered one of the greatest performers in her home country. Kppenheim gained international recognition for her role in Sebastin Lelio's A Fantastic Woman. The film also stars Nicols Seplveda, who plays the wounded man named Elas,[8][14] and Hugo Medina, who plays Padre Snchez.

Filming took place in the summer of 2021, partly in Las Cruces, a holiday resort in the Chilean coastal town/municipality of El Tabo in the Valparaso region. Yarar Rodrguez served as the cinematographer, while the film's score was composed by Brazilian jazz and improvisational musician Mari Portugal.[15]

1976 premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022, where it was shown in the Directors' Fortnight section.[16] It was also screened at several other film festivals, including the Melbourne International Film Festival,[17] the San Sebastin International Film Festival,[18] the Hamburg Film Festival,[19] the Osnabrck Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival,[20][21] the Gteborg International Film Festival, [22][23] the Tokyo International Film Festival,[24] the BFI London Film Festival[25] and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.[26]

According to the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 1976 has a 91% approval rating based on 56 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Chile '76 is an intriguing historical noir that radiographs Pinochet's patronizing and patriarchal society through the eyes of a steely bourgeoise woman who dares to take a stand".[27] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film holds a score of 78 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[28]

Chile, 1976. Carmen heads off to her beach house to supervise its renovation. Her husband, children and grandchildren come back and forth during the winter vacation. When the family priest asks her to take care of a young man he is sheltering in secret, Carmen steps onto unexplored territories, away from the quiet life she is used to.

Kino Lorber announced that it has acquired all North American distribution rights to Manuela Martelli's 1976, which made its world premiere at this year's Cannes Directors' Fortnight and will be released in North America as Chile '76. Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release next winter.

renovation, while also performing local charitable works through her church. When the family priest asks her to take care of an injured young man he has been sheltering in secret, Carmen is inadvertently drawn into the world of the Chilean political opposition and must face real-world threats she is unprepared to handle, leading to disastrous consequences.

"As the tone of Manuela Martelli's masterful debut morphs from drama to thriller, it relentlessly draws audiences into lead character Carmen's psyche in a chillingly experiential way," said Kino Lorber SVP Wendy Lidell. "Chile '76 explores political and social issues that remain quite relevant today, and though set in Pinochet's Chile, we think Carmen's journey into dangerous waters will resonate with North American audiences."

"I am glad that Chile '76 will be part of a catalog along with other important films that have influenced me. Kino Lorber is an amazing partner to reach North American audiences and to have the film be seen as much as possible," added Manuela Martelli.

Manuela Martelli has participated in more than 15 films as an actress. In 2010, she received a Fulbright to pursue a Masters in Film at Temple University, U.S.A. Apnea, her first short film, premiered at FICValdivia, 2014. She was also selected by Cannes Directors Fortnight's program Chile Factory to co-direct a short film with Amirah Tajdin, called Land Tides, which premiered at the Fortnight in 2015. She is currently premiering her debut feature film Chile '76.

With a library of over 4,000 titles, Kino Lorber has been a leader in independent art house distribution for over 45 years, releasing 35 films per year theatrically and garnering seven Academy Award nominations in nine years. Most recently, the company has expanded its own direct digital platforms through the acquisition of leading international series streamers MHz Choice and Topic and the launch of Kino Film Collection, a subscription service for film lovers showcasing new releases direct from theaters plus curated international, indie, and documentary films and newly restored classics from the Kino Lorber library. Additionally, the company brings hundreds of titles annually to the home entertainment and educational markets through digital and physical media releases.

As drama 1976 screens at the London Film Festival, Chilean director Manuela Martelli talks to Chris Evans, editor of KFTV, about the near 10-year journey of developing, shooting and financing her feature directorial debut across both Chile and Argentina.

So I felt it was important to look at this important period of Chilean history, but from an intimate and domestic perspective. How the outside world filters into the home, and the fact that this character, Carmen, could live her comfortable life, but see a crack, an opportunity to help, and take it. This is despite there being a lot of people who didn't want to see what was going on. There was a silence.

Then once I had the first script, I read a novel that Moffat wrote and really liked it, because it looked at how daily life was impacted by the outside world. So, I called her up and we wrote a second draft of the script together to establish the skeleton structure. It was really an important collaboration. And then at the end, I kept on writing myself because it was a very long process.

We spent a long period of time finding the right places and then had to do a little work focusing on specific streets and brought in a couple of 70s cars for each scene. We were moving about quickly with limited resources.

There are so many impressive open spaces, and everything's not as regulated as it would be in Europe. You can find your way creativity, often just by talking to people, and film in some really special, stunning places quite easily.

it obviously took me a long time and was hard to put everything together, but I really enjoyed the process and working out what to do. When you direct a short film, you don't have time to think or space for the film to breathe.

Aline started really young doing telenovelas in Chile in the 1980s and 90s. I used to watch these and thought she was great. Then years later I got to act with her in a couple of films (Machuca and The Good Life). When I wrote 1976, I was thinking of her for the lead.

Yes. I always thought of the sound as a way to portray the horror of the period, creating the atmosphere of the dictatorship through an invisible element. Plus we had a great sound designer from Argentina, Jesica Suarez, who had the brilliant idea of making the sound subjective not objective, to portray the characters' feelings.

Yes, we have two production companies in Chile (Wood Producciones, Cinestacion) and one in Argentina (Magma Cine). I was involved with Cinestacion from the start. And they did all the development of the film. Then when we started production, I was already working on another project with Wood Producciones, so it made sense that they would get involved in this film as well. I think we did a great job together.

The producers are Alejandra Garcia, Juan Pablo Gugliotta, Dominga Sotomayor, Nathalia Videla, Andres Wood (director of Machuga) and Omar Zuniga. They were involved at various points throughout the movie. Andres is a maestro and mentor with lots of experience, so he was really helpful for me when writing the script and planning the film.

We actually filmed part of the movie in Buenos Aires, including the opening sequence, and scenes in a bar, call centre and shoe store, all of which were interiors. This was so that we could get funding from both Argentina and Chile.

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