Albertina and the Dead
(Albertina y los muertos)
César Borie | Documentary
2022 | 81 minutes | Chile
Albertina, the spiritual leader of a village built over indigenous tombs, is in charge of communicating with the Ño, a deity whose physical form is a rag doll.
Synopsis
Albertina sells flowers at the cemetery in San Miguel de Azapa, Chile, a small town built over Indigenous tombs. For half a century, she has led traditions that seek prosperity for the living while keeping their relationship with the dead on good terms. As the matriarch, her death triggers a series of rites that her family and friends carry out with care. Thus, the community aims to ensure a favorable journey for their “grandmother’s” soul and to preserve the traditions that she maintained.
Reviews
“Always entertaining and interesting, Albertina and the Dead is a welcome cultural contribution, which also stands out for being a production made in remote regions, allowing the rest of the country to get to know these characters and their way of life and their rites and customs, which are most likely practically unknown.” – Joel Poblete Morales, Televitos
“They are ceremonies with alcohol, smoke, songs, dances, processions, meals, burials and disinterments. They are rough lives with beliefs that, from the center of Chile, seem foreign. As of compatriots from another world, from a parallel reality, from and with another time, from another era. And yet, Albertina and the Dead shows a living community, with firm beliefs even though they may seem, in our rationality, superstitions.” – Ezio Mosciatti.
Biobio Chile
Citation
Main credits
Borie Cervellino, César (film director)
Borie Cervellino, César (screenwriter)
Miranda Ulloa, Melisa (screenwriter)
Romero Quntana, Rocio (film producer)
Felipe Cáceres, Albertina (on-screen participant)
Other credits
Cinematography, Wenceslao Miranda Cruz; editing, Melisa Miranda Ulloa; music, Tarqueada Villarroel A [and 5 others].
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Anthropology
Culture + Identity
Family
Latin American Studies
Race + Ethnicity
South America
Women
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
Recobrado de Valparaíso International Film Festival - Honorable Mention; Arica Nativa Film Festival - Best Film-Filmin ARICA/TACNA; SANFIC Santiago International Film Festival; Aricadoc International Documentary Film Festival; Quilpué National Film Festival; Festival of Chilean Films FECICH
DIRECTOR: César Borie
NATIONALITY: Chile
YEAR: 2022
GENRE: Documentary
LANGUAGE: Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adult
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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