Santiago, Italia by Nanni Moretti

With the screening of Santiago, Italia by Nanni Moretti we begin a journey into the world of Italian documentary, a genre that represents one of the most interesting and innovative areas of contemporary Italian cinema. Works by directors such as Gianfranco Rosi or Roberto Minervini have been selected and have received awards from major international festivals such as Venice, Berlin and Cannes.

Three years after My Mother, Nanni Moretti, releases a documentary about the role that Italy played in Pinochet’s coup in Chile, in September 1973.

Santiago, Italia is a documentary examining Italy’s role following the military coup that, on Sept. 11, 1973 in Chile, ended Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government. Through raw footage and the words of firsthand witnesses of the months following the coup, the film highlights the role played by the Italian Embassy in Santiago, which gave shelter to hundreds of opponents of General Pinochet’s regime, eventually helping them to find a way to Italy. History lesson narrated by those who experienced the fall and death of Allende, openly Marxist and democratically elected president in 1970, Santiago, Italy confirms his director’s eternal personal involvement but shifts the perspective from ‘first person’, to the ‘second person’. A documentary “felt and imade personal”, Moretti’s voice is present during the interviews and the witnesses’ recollections, since he interacts, discusses, and argues with them.