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
Keywords
spirituality,death,documentary,local culture,woman,aging,indigenous people,traditions,indigonous comunities,local culture,women,womanhood,gender,girl,girlhood,mother,motherhood,female,cis woman,cis female,trans woman,trans female,women’s rights,women’s issues,lady,ladies,gentlewoman,madame,miss,missus,mrs.,dame,damsel,ingenue,lass,maid,maiden,belle,gal,ladyfriend,girlfriend,dear,darling,widow,matron,dowager,gender,gender equality,gender pay gap,women’s liberation,women’s rights,indigenous peoples,indigenous people,indigenous,native,native people,native peoples,aboriginal people,aboriginal,aborigine,indigene,indigeneity,tribes,tribal,tribal people,tribal peoples,religion,spirituality,organized religion,soul,spiritual beliefs,religious beliefs,belief systems,branches of religion,religious sects,sects,gods and goddesses,monotheism,theism,pantheism,polytheism,spiritual awakening,anthropologically,cultural anthropology,forensic anthropology,anthropologist,human nature,physical anthropology,ethnocentric,ethnography,functionalism,cultures,societies,human people,human society,functionalism,globalization,ideology,pragmatism,dogmatism,social change,society,family,kin,fellowship,household,immediate family,extended family,multigenerational family,multigenerational household,kinfolk,family tree,genealogy,nuclear family,modern family,family tree, albertina and the dead, albertina y los muertos, césar borie; "Albertina and the Dead"; Pragda Films
Clips
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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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