Pacto de Fuga

Had it not actually happened, the story that Pacto de fuga tells could have been written for the big screen. During the final days of the Pinochet regime in January 1990, 49 political prisoners managed to escape from Santiago Prison through a 60-meter long, hand-dug tunnel.

It took the prisoners eighteen months to dig their way out. In his film adaptation of this heroic jailbreak – the largest in Chilean history – David Albala uses the one-and-a-half years timespan to zoom in on the personal lives of his protagonists. Some of them were facing death sentences for plotting a failed assassination attempt on Pinochet. Their background and their at times difficult relationship with loved ones or family members add depth to the unnervingly slow progress of their escape plot in a hostile environment where the risk of discovery of their secret is lurking around the corner at all times.

Distancia
Maria Fernanda Sessa | Chile | 2021, 5’ | Spanish spoken | English subtitles
A daily journey under the soil of the capital seen through a magnifying glass. Despite rising contagion, the urban fabric must continue to function. Coronavirus prompts a new body choreography to reveal itself.