Abstract

CRISTIA, Moira. Stolen Images from the Chilean Repression. Transnational Networks of Denunciation and Counter-informational Cinema during Augusto Pinochet's Dictatorship. Hist. Soc. [online]. 2019, n.37, pp.173-200.  Epub Oct 10, 2019. ISSN 0121-8417.  https://doi.org/10.15446/hys.n37.74268.

In 1982, the documentary No olvidar (Don't Forget) -shot by the Chilean filmmaker Ignacio Agüero denouncing the disappearance of fifteen inhabitants of Isla Maipo a few days after the coup d'état that overthrew the Unidad Popular (Popular Unity) political alliance- was edited and released in Switzerland. On the other hand, Miguel Littín -who had been exiled for twelve years, since 1973- returned clandestinely to his native Chile in 1985 to create Acta General de Chile (Clandestine Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín), first shown in Spain in 1986. How could images with a counter-informative intention be filmed and spread through Europe during such a repressive dictatorship as the one led by General Augusto Pinochet? Reconstructing these two experiences through different historical sources, this paper shows that it was possible due to the cooperation, both in the production and in the distribution of these materials, between Pinochet regime's opponents living in the country, those in exile and European actors. Particularly, this document analyzes the role of the Association Internationale de Défense des Artistes victimes de la répression dans le monde (AIDA) in those transnational networks. Also, this article proposes that, against the "disimagination machine" -as Georges Didi-Huberman conceptualized the violence invisibilization policies of the Nazi regime- these films contributed to create a visual discourse of denunciation that crossed borders, in order to raise awareness in the international public opinion and to bring pressure to bear on the States responsible for human rights' violations.

Keywords : cinema; dictatorship; Chile; human rights; exile; transnational networks.

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