Hot Docs

A man crashes into the surf and dives under the water, never to resurface. The grainy footage plays on a loop, as if enough repetition might change the inevitable ending. This is the only record that remains of Carlos Berger Guralnik, killed by Pinochet’s Death Convoy. Thirty years later, his son, filmmaker Germán Berger, travels back to Chile to revive his father’s memory and heal his estranged family. Underwater photography of old pictures sinking and twisting in an unseen current perfectly captures the depth of love and loss experienced by Carlos’ family. Carlos is remembered for the first time by relatives who, out of self-preservation, have tried to forget. Their tender tributes of hidden candy and overdue eulogies may be late, but they will last. By addressing Carlos as “you” in narration, the film allows the audience to become directly involved in this emotional history of survival and destruction. - Angie Driscoll

Co-presented with aluCine Toronto Latin Media Festival.