Directed by Patricio Guzmán • Documentary • 2023 • 96 minutes
THE FIRST YEAR is a jubilant record of the 12 months following the election of Chile’s first socialist president, Salvador Allende. Director Patricio Guzmán travels the country, meeting workers who no longer have to answer to the caprices of bosses, fishermen hoping to be freed from predatory capitalist middlemen, and Indigenous people rising up to reclaim their land.
Guzmán has a talent for capturing powerful emotions: the man with an arm mangled after a workplace accident remembering workplace humiliation. The excitement of young people greeting Fidel Castro on a state visit. The relief of miners no longer forced to work under unsafe conditions.
But not everyone is happy. The upper classes do their best to undermine the economy — and blame the results on Allende. By the end of the year, there are already signs of the counter-revolution to come.
Restored and digitized version under Patricio Guzmán’s supervision, this version features a short introduction to Chile and its history by documentary legend Chris Marker, who adapted the original film into French.
Up Next in How to Fight Back!
-
The Battle of Chile (Part 1)
Directed by Patricio Guzman • Documentary • 1975 • 96 minutes
On September 11, 1973, President Salvador Allende's democratically elected Chilean government was overthrown in a bloody coup by General Augusto Pinochet's army.
Patricio Guzmán and five colleagues had been filming the political dev...
-
'63 Boycott
Directed by Gordon Quinn • Documentary • 2017 • 30 minutes
On October 22, 1963, more than 250,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools to protest racial segregation. Many marched through the city calling for the resignation of School Superintendent Benjamin Willis, who placed trailers, ...
-
Boom Boom
Directed by Laurie Lassalle • Documentary • 2022 • 110 minutes
"I meet Pierrot in the fall of 2018. We protest together in the heart of the "Gilets jaunes" movement. The earth trembles and so do our hearts. Our bodies mingle with thousands of others who express their anger in the street every Sa...
