Join Us for the U.S. Premiere of Patricio Guzmán's THE FIRST YEAR!

Dear Tropicalistas,

Please join us for a special screening on September 8 of Patricio Guzman's THE FIRST YEAR at the Anthology Film Archives! The movie will be followed by a conversation between Chilean visual artist Cecilia Vicuna, and Chilean scholar Florencia San Martin -- with a FREE wine and empanadas reception at the lobby!

This fall marks the 50th anniversary of the “first September 11th”: the 1973 U.S.-backed coup in Chile, which saw the democratically-elected socialist government of President Salvador Allende violently toppled by military forces led by General Augusto Pinochet, a cataclysmic event that marked a turning point not only in the history of Chile but in the history of Latin America as a whole.

Documenting the initial 12 months of Allende’s government, THE FIRST YEAR is a fascinating work within Guzmán’s filmography precisely for having been made prior to the coup. Produced when he was only 31 years old and newly returned to his native Chile following his studies in Madrid, it’s the film of a young man bursting with energy, creativity, and a passionate enthusiasm for the unprecedented political and social transformation taking place before his eyes: a constitutional, legal, and nonviolent Socialist revolution that would prove so threatening to the established power structure that it would soon resort to brute force to quash it. Completed while reactionary forces were mobilizing, but before the coup, THE FIRST YEAR is suffused with a degree of hope and possibility that, in retrospect, makes the later films all the more moving and powerful. The film was released in 1972 in Chile, as well as in France (where Chris Marker produced a French-language version), and Guzmán later incorporated parts of it into SALVADOR ALLENDE (2004). But with most of the prints lost or destroyed following the coup, it’s only thanks to a difficult and time-consuming restoration project that the film is now finally available again. This overdue U.S. theatrical release provides an invaluable opportunity to witness the genesis of Guzmán’s body of work, and to gain insight into a critical period in Chilean history.

For more information on ticketing, please visit:

http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/calendar?view=list&month=09&year=2023#showing-56515