A Celebration of Pan American Culture Through Film: Inspiring documentaries that bring the diverse stories, vibrant cultures and remarkable contributions of Pan American peoples to the screen.
As Chile was beginning the decades-long dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in the early 1970s, huge observatories were being constructed in the country’s vast Atacama Desert. While astronomers began to gaze at the stars, the dictatorship was using this expanse of land to bury thousands of “disappeared” political prisoners. In Nostalgia for the Light, Patricio Guzmán goes to that very desert to explore the dichotomy between the past and present. As the astronomers search for the history of the cosmos, historians are researching the six different cultures buried beneath. The wives and mothers of the disappeared search through the dust for the remains of their loved ones, each sharing both this unique place and a search for a greater understanding of what came before. Nostalgia for the Light is a stunning and contemplative exploration of memory, history, eternity and the search for the unknown. Charlotte Cook
In Spanish and English, with English subtitles.
Through this series, Hot Docs is participating as a Cultural Collaboration with PANAMANIA presented by CIBC, the arts and cultural festival of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games.