Notes for a Film

Notas para una película

  • Ignacio Agüero
  • Chile, France
  • 2022
  • 105 min
  • International Premiere
  • Envision Competition, Focus: Playing Reality

Belgian civil engineer Gustave Verniory still had a lot to learn when in 1889 he was hired to construct a railroad across the unspoiled natural landscape of Araucanía, a region that had recently become part of Chile. The tumultuous past and the ever-changing landscape are a constant background presence in Notes for a Film.

Director Ignacio Agüero takes a provocative approach in this portrait based loosely on Verniory’s memoirs, choosing to film actor Alexis Mespreuve visiting old sites and re-enacting adventures in modern-day Chile. Shooting in black-and-white, he is able to seamlessly blend the new scenes with archive footage, making history palpable.

But Agüero and Mespreuve also step out of that narrative when they visit the Mapuche, an oppressed community still scarred by colonization—just like their once abundant habitat. A playful film that nonetheless forces us to face some hard facts.

Credits

  • 105 min
  • color / black and white
  • DCP
  • Spoken languages: Spanish, French, Mapudungun
  • Subtitles in: English (Closed Captioned)
Director
Ignacio Agüero
Production
Tehani Staiger for Ignacio Agüero & Asociado Ltda, Viviana Erpel for Ignacio Agüero & Asociado Ltda, Amalric de Pontcharra for Ignacio Agüero & Asociado Ltda
Executive producer
Tehani Staiger for Ignacio Agüero & Asociado Ltda
Co-production
Elisa Sepulveda for Fulgurance Films
Cinematography
David Bravo

IDFA history

2022
International Premiere
Envision Competition
Focus: Playing Reality

Share this film

Print this page

IDFA history

This website uses cookies.

By using cookies we can measure how our site is used, how it can be further improved and to personalize the content of online advertisements.

Read
 here everything about our cookie policy. If you choose to decline, we only place functional and analytical cookies