August
26
Icarus Films Announces theNorth American Theatrical Release ofMY IMAGINARY COUNTRY
 The Latest Film by Master Documentarian Patricio Guzmán Is an Urgent and Inspiring Chronicle of How a Popular Uprising Sparked Deep Political Change The Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Opens September 23 at the IFC Center in NYC, September 30 in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco ** Filmmaker Available for Select Interviews** ** NYC Press Screening TBA ** Icarus Films is proud to announce the North American theatrical release of My Imaginary Country (Mi país imaginario), the most recent film by Chile’s master documentarian Patricio Guzmán which premiered to standing ovations at the Cannes Film Festival last May. The documentary feature will have an exclusive engagement at IFC Center in New York City beginning on Friday, September 23, followed by openings at the Laemmle Monica Center in Los Angeles on Friday, September 30, as well as in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco also on that date. In October 2019, without warning, a revolution exploded across Chile. It was an event that Guzmán had been waiting for since 1973, when a violent military attack overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, and became the ending of Guzman’s most famous film, and one of the greatest documentaries of all time, The Battle of Chile. Now, millions of people took to the streets of Santiago and across the country, demanding economic justice, free education and health care and fundamentally, a new constitution. Featuring harrowing front-line protest footage and interviews with dynamic activists—of a movement largely led by women and feminist leaders—My Imaginary Country powerfully, yet elegantly connects Chile’s complex, bloody history to the country’s contemporary social movements, and leading to the recent election of a new president. An urgent and powerful film, My Imaginary Country also serves as an inspiring and exemplary tale for other nations of how a popular revolt can spark deep political change. My Imaginary Country’s North American release is closely tied to two important upcoming political dates: On September 4, 2022, the Chilean people will vote on adopting a new, radical constitution for the country – the most important fruit of the transformative protest movement documented in the film.And that vote will take place just one week before the 49th anniversary of the US supported military coup that brought Pinochet to power, on September 11, 1973.The IFC Center will commemorate not only this “other” September 11 but also the incredible arc and accomplishment of Guzman’s work over more than fifty years, by accompanying its presentation of My Imaginary Country with screenings of his earlier films, including The Battle of Chile, which itself premiered in Cannes, in 1975.”My Imaginary Country drips with the contagious thrill of hope… It is hard not to be moved.” —Rafaela Sales Ross, The Playlist “With civil liberties in America under attack, those willing to fight to keep the liberties we have in place could learn a thing or two from the Patricio Guzmán documentary.” —Valerie Complex, Deadline “It’s a vindication, not just for the nation, but for its most clear-eyed, full-hearted chronicler. Would that all countries were so lucky as to have a Patricio Guzmán, to help with the painful process of recovering what has been lost and, as with My Imaginary Country, occasionally to celebrate what has been gained.” —Jessica Kiang, Variety Theatrical dates confirmed (more cities TBA) New York, NY: Opens Friday, September 23 at the IFC Center Los Angeles, CA: Opens Friday, September 30 at the Laemmle Monica Center Chicago, IL: Opens Friday, September 30 at Gene Siskel Film Center Boston, MA: Opens Friday, September 30 at The Brattle Minneapolis, MN: Opens Friday, October 21at MSP Film at The Main Seattle, WA: Opens Friday, October 26 at Northwest Film Forum For more information, screener for review, hi-res images, press kit, or to inquire on the possibility of scheduling an interview with the filmmaker, please contact or to schedule an interview with the director, please contact Sammy Didonato, Cinema Tropical, press@cinematropical.com or (212) 254-5474.MI IMAGINARY COUNTRY (Mi país imaginario). France/Chile, 2022. 83 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. Writer and director: Patricio Guzmán; Producer: Renate Sachse; Co-producers: Olivier Pere, ARTE France Cinéma (France) and Alexandra Galvis, Market Chile (Chile); Cinematographer: Samuel Lahu; Sound: Juan Carlos Maldonado Dubo and Aymeric Dupas; Editor: Laurence Manheimer; Original Music: Miranda y Tobar; Executive producer: Benjamin Lanlard; Production companies: Atacama Productions, Market Chile, Arte France Cinéma; Partners: CNC, ARTE Cinema, ARTE TV, Creative Media Europe, Region Ile de France, Consejo Nacional de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio (Chile). An Icarus Films release. About the director: Patricio Guzmán was born in 1941 in Santiago, Chile. He has dedicated his career to documentary cinema. His films have screened widely and received international recognition. Guzmán studied at the Official School of Cinematographic Art in Madrid. From 1972 to 1979, he directed The Battle of Chile: Part I-III, a five-hour trilogy about Salvador Allende’s government and its fall to General Pinochet in a deadly military coup. Named one of the 10 best political films in the world by Cineaste, this film is the foundation of Guzmán’s cinema. After Pinochet took power, Patricio Guzmán was arrested and imprisoned at the National Stadium, where he was subjected repeatedly to simulated executions. In 1973, he left Chile and moved to Cuba, then to Spain, and then France, but remained very attached to his country and its history. Guzmán is the president of the International Documentary Festival in Santiago, Chile (FIDOCS), which he founded in 1997. The Cordillera of Dreams (Cannes 2019) closed a trilogy which began with Nostalgia for the Light(Cannes 2010) and The Pearl Button (Berlin 2015). His latest film is My Imaginary Country. |
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