In our live talk and Q&A with Maite Alberdi, a Chilean director and producer at the forefront of national documentary films, Maite discussed the ways in which documentaries help us construct the kind of society we want to live in, ‘by showing us what we don’t want to face’.
Alberdi’s films are intimate portraits of often overlooked sectors of society, like The Grown-Ups (2016), which presents a group of forty-something-year-old classmates with Down Syndrome who approach their 50th year with frustration; The Lifeguard (2012) which intimately portrays the day-to-day of an earnest and dedicated lifeguard on Chépica beach – and becomes something altogether darker and more dramatic; and Tea Time (2014) where the camera observes five elderly ladies’ monthly tea date, at which they reminisce about the old days, opine on current affairs and comment with hilarious honestly on their lives.
We discussed the treatment of Chile’s elderly – the theme of her new spy film The Mole Agent (2020) – and how Chileans have begun to take notice of this demographic of society, of their own parents and grandparents, during the pandemic.
Karoline Pelikan, LAB’s film editor who was in discussion with Maite, broached working in a female-led team and Alberdi told us about filming The Mole Agent whilst pregnant and getting through post-production with a baby in the editing suite.
You can read more about The Mole Agent here and watch the film at themoleagent.co.uk.
This was an event in association with FLAWA (The Festival of Latin American Women in Arts), Cine Latino and Dogwoof.