I Am From Chile

Gonzalo Díaz Ugarte / Chile / 2013 / 108 min

  • Barranquilla Film Festival

    Special Mention Best Ibero American Film

  • Festival Cine de Punta del Este

    Special Mention Diego Ruiz

  • Havana's International Festival of New Latin American Cinema

  • Latin American Film Festival of Montreal

  • Amsterdam Film Festival

  • Chicago Latino Film Festival

Related Films
IlliterateIlliterate(Las Analfabetas)Moisés SepúlvedaXimena is an illiterate woman in her fifties who has learned to live on her own in order to keep her illiteracy a secret. Jackeline is a young unemployed ...The ReturnThe Return(El Regreso)Hernán JiménezThe Return is the story of a delightful and life-changing journey back to Costa Rica. After living 10 years in New York, 30 year-old Antonio returns to ...The Death of PinochetThe Death of Pinochet(La Muerte de Pinochet)Bettina Perut & Iván OsnovikoffOn December 10, 2006, General Pinochet dies unexpectedly in Santiago’s Military Hospital. For 24 hours, his death reawakens the political divisions ...Father’s ChairFather’s Chair(A Busca)Luciano MouraTheo is a successful doctor in the wealthy suburbs of São Paulo. Having always placed his job before his family, he is a failure as both a father and ...The Kid Who LiesThe Kid Who Lies(El Chico que miente)Marité UgásA 13-year-old boy leaves his home and starts a journey along the Venezuelan coast. In order to survive, he captivates people by telling them riveting ...
Pricing
Inquire about DVD availability
3 year DSL license with PPR$449Buy Now
Perpetual DSL license with PPR$549Buy Now
K-12, Public Libraries, Community Groups 3 year DSL license$200Buy Now
Related Subjects
Download

Spanish with English subtitles

With Paulina García, Diego Ruiz, Iván Álvarez de Araya, Tamara Ferreira, Catalina Aguayo, Robert Scott, Santiago Meneghello

A coming of age story, I Am From Chile draws from the director’s personal experiences to tell a different kind of immigration story.

I Am from Chile is the story of Salvador, who moves to London from Chile to study English and travel around Europe at his parents’ expense. He stays with his aunt María (acclaimed Chilean actress Paulina García of Gloria, Illiterate), who makes a rather decent living renting the rooms of her house to other immigrants. But when a financial crisis back home leaves Salvador with no resources of his own, he has no other choice but to make ends meet with the help of María and his roommates (including a Russian drug dealer and his Japanese girlfriend), taking on a series of short-term, and at times, dangerous jobs. Difficult and challenging situations will force Salvador out of his protected bourgeois reality and into the real world.

Press

“Paulina Garcia gives another great performance as Maria, and Diego Ruiz, who played Salvador, won special mention at the Festival Cine de Punta del Este. Recommended.” – Elena Landry, George Mason Libraries, EMRO

About the Director

Gonzalo Díaz Ugarte was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1979. He specialized in Direction of Photography at the EICTV San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba.

In 2004 he received his BA in Communications, earning the academic excellence award from UNIACC. That same year he moved to London and worked as cameraman and camera assistant in several music videos and commercials. He also worked on two feature films, Broken and Devil’s Chair from British director Adam Mason. In 2008 he returned to Chile and joined the production company Fabula, where he worked as an assistant director.

Notes on Film

I lived in London for four years. During that time, I got to know the lives of young Latin American immigrants, who are in constant search of opportunities. I also experienced the feeling of living far from home, getting used to a completely different culture and, at the same time, gaining some personal insight.

Salvador, the film’s protagonist, guides the audience along a coming of age narrative. Upon arrival in London, he finds himself in several dilemmas, the most important being his need to find a job to make ends meet, that forces him to grow and mature.

María copes with her family’s failure through drinking, revealing an extroverted and joyful side to her personality, but one that doesn’t help her improve her current situation.

Happiness, sadness, deception, frustration, love… the characters experience countless emotions throughout the film, which doesn’t aim to do more than share a point of view and entertain the spectator in its 108 minutes.