Anna Marie de la Fuente For Chile’s most celebrated documentarian Maite Alberdi, whose debut fiction pic “El lugar de la otra” vies for the Golden Shell at the 72ndSan Sebastian Film Festival (SSIF), venturing into fiction filmmaking posed a number of challenges.
But it also had its perks: it took her only a month to shoot the drama while it has taken her an average of five years each time to complete a documentary, two of which, “The Eternal Memory” and “The Mole Agent,” have garnered Oscar nominations.
Recreating ‘50s Santiago for her period film was no mean feat for her art department, led by Pamela Chamorro, given the paucity of buildings dating back from that era. “Earthquakes and the lack of government policies to preserve our architectural heritage, has seen few buildings of past eras still standing in Santiago,” Alberdi told Variety.
Working with a host of actors, numbering around 50, was also a new experience. The challenge was to find the truth in their performances, the nuances in their gestures and actions, she noted, adding: “I’m used to working with a crew of three with my documentaries, this time I had 80 people!” The cast is led by Elisa Zulueta, Francisca Lewin, Marcial Tagle, Pablo Macaya and Gabriel Urzúa.
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