Paris (France) (AFP) – Amid applause, activist songs and members of the Quilapayún group, Paris honored this Saturday the Chilean documentary filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, who died in September, a filmmaker who showed like few others the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende and the fight for memory after the dictatorship in his country.
First modification: 07/11/2026 - 20:49
Guzmán, author of multi-award-winning documentaries such as "The Battle of Chile" or "The Cordillera of Dreams", died on September 15 at the age of 85 in the French capital, where he lived for much of his life.
The screening of "Popular Power" and "Nostalgia for the Light" in the auditorium of the Paris City Hall was a small sample of his filmography, marked by fifteen documentaries, almost all of them about the recent history of his country and always with a poetic look.
"We could not not pay tribute to Patricio Guzmán, who took refuge in France and who, from Paris, made his voice heard against the Chilean dictatorship" of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), Paris councilor Geneviève Garrigos, one of the organizers, told AFP before the event.
"In Chile, with the extreme right in power, it is the suppression of memory," he added, in reference to the government of far-right José Antonio Kast, who barely issued a message regarding the filmmaker's death.
After Guzmán's death, prominent cultural voices in Chile, such as director Pablo Larraín, criticized that the authorities did not do anything special for the loss of such a relevant figure for cinema.
Eduardo Carrasco and Hernán Gómez, both members of the legendary Chilean group Quilapayún, also participated in the tribute in Paris.
"Popular Power," which closes the "Battle of Chile" trilogy, "has historical value, because it shows in great detail what was happening in Chile [...] a country that tries with great will to carry out a program" under Allende's mandate, Carrasco said.
There was also time for music, with a group that performed songs such as "We will conquer" or "The united people will never be defeated", created by Quilapayún.
The Chileans who were among the audience claimed Guzmán's role in preserving the country's historical memory.
"In this presidential period in Chile, we fell into a whirlwind of no memory. That means that if people do not remember their past, they repeat it every time. Guzmán's work serves to remember," Johanna Caris González, a French-Chilean who has lived in France for 15 years, told AFP.
During the event, another Chilean filmmaker was remembered, the Oscar-winning Sebastián Lelio, who died the day before, and for whom the Chilean government declared two days of mourning.
© 2026 AFP
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