'Battle of Chile' documentary-maker Patricio Guzman dies, aged 85

Pallade Veneta - 'Battle of Chile' documentary-maker Patricio Guzman dies, aged 85

CULTURE 15.09.2026

'Battle of Chile' documentary-maker Patricio Guzman dies, aged 85 / Photo: Julie SEBADELHA - AFP/File

Patricio Guzman, a Chilean documentary-maker whose 1970s trilogy "The Battle of Chile" is regarded as a landmark political documentary, died in Paris on Tuesday aged 85, his wife told AFP.

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Although not widely known to general audiences, Guzman was a multiple award-winning filmmaker regarded as one of the most prominent to come from Latin America.

"The Battle of Chile" covered the government of Chile's former president Salvador Allende up to his assassination on September 11, 1973.

After Augusto Pinochet seized power in a coup, Guzman was arrested and subjected to simulated executions. He went on to make several films shining a light on the recent history of his country.

"Memory has its own gravity," he told AFP in 2010, when another of his films, "Nostalgia for the Light", was shown at Cannes. "States that bury their past crimes are lagging behind."

After leaving Chile in 1973, Guzman went into exile in Cuba, in Spain and then in France, while still keeping his lens trained on Chile.

His last documentary was "My Imaginary Country", which came out in 2022, about a massive popular revolt that shook Chile in 2019.

One of his favourite sayings was: "A country without documentary cinema is like a family without a family album."

P.Colombo--PV

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Pallade Veneta - 'Battle of Chile' documentary-maker Patricio Guzman dies, aged 85