98 minutes / Color
English; Spanish / English subtitles
Release: 2016
Copyright: 2015
More than 40 years have passed since a military coup in Chile deposed the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende. The death of Allende and the years of military dictatorship that followed have left deep scars in both the country and in Allende's immediate family. In BEYOND MY GRANDFATHER ALLENDE (ALLENDE MI ABUELO ALLENDE), his granddaughter Marcia Tambutti Allende goes in search of Salvador Allende the man.
She attempts to reconstruct the past through informal interviews with her family, quickly discovering that they don't talk about "Chico," as he was affectionately known. Memories of him have been buried deep and seem too painful to drag up. Nevertheless, the filmmaker's aged grandmother slowly but surely becomes accustomed to her compassionate but sharp interviewing style and starts to talk more about Allende, her marriage and her role as the president's wife. Other members of the family, many of whom never knew Allende personally, also start to talk.
Marcia goes in search of family photos and videos, and as a result we get to know the kind of man her grandfather was. Winner of Best Documentary at the 2017 Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Film Festival, the film also provides a thorough impression of the complex political situation of the Allende family over the past 40 years.
"Serves as a unique opportunity for contemporary Chileans-and outsiders, too-to rediscover the deposed leader"—Variety
"Extraordinary... The film is an invitation to love for those whose families are complex, and for those whose lives are implicated in world history."—Michael D. Kennedy, Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs, Brown University
"The key player is her grandmother, Hortensia ("Tencha")… Frail but lucid and still very elegant, [she] acknowledges her love for her late husband, her suffering at his affairs with other women and her unconditional support for his political ambitions ... One can understand how difficult it is to open old wounds, but most viewers will agree the director is right to insist on coaxing out the family truth, before it is too late to put the tale together."—The Hollywood Reporter
"In this treasure hunt, Marcia Tambutti Allende creates a valuable historical testimony, but especially a sensitive and discreet family portrait. A fascinating and intimate documentary."—Trois Couleurs
"After decades of silence, Marcia draws an honest portrait without grandiloquence, taking into account the complexity, irreparable losses and the role of memory in three generations of an injured family."—France Inter
Select Accolades
The epic chronicle of Chile's open and peaceful socialist revolution, and of the violent counter-revolution against it in 1973, now on a special edition 4-DVD set.
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In Chile's Atacama Desert, Patricio Guzman studies distant galaxies, ancient civilizations, and the remains of the disappeared.
Patricio Guzmán | 2011 | 90 minutes | Color | Spanish | English subtitles
Filmmaker Ignacio Aguero's gentle exploration of home, family, history and Chilean society.
Ignacio Aguero | 2013 | 120 minutes | Color | English; Spanish | English subtitles
Patricio Guzmán (The Battle of Chile) tells Allende's story, from his youth in Valparaiso and his early career, to his presidency of Chile and death during the coup of September 11, 1973.
Patricio Guzmán | 2006 | 100 minutes | Color | Spanish | English subtitles
A comprehensive, accessible examination of the particularities of the Cuban economy.
Ricardo Figueredo Oliva | 2018 | 52 minutes | Color | Spanish | English subtitles
