Patricio Guzmán Campos
Camera
Biography
Patricio Guzmán Campos was a Chilean photographer, documentary filmmaker and cinematographer with a long international career. He portrayed the reality of Chile from 1958 to 1973 through photography and film. During the 60's he became a key collaborator to filmmaker Joris Ivens in the multiple films he made in Chile during the early 60's, which were produced by the Center of Experimental Film of the University of Chile and Argos Films. In 1974, after the coup, he went into exile in Hungary. In 1980 he emigrated to Canada, the country where he eventually passed away in 2014. Part of his career was linked to the Chilean singer-songwriter Víctor Jara, whom he photographed on various occasions. He is considered to be one of the greatest figures of Chilean social photography.
Known For
In 1962 Joris Ivens was invited to Chile for teaching and filmmaking. Together with students he made …A Valparaíso, one of his most poetic films. Contrasting the prestigious history of the seaport with the present the film sketches a portrait of the city, built on 42 hills, with its wealth and poverty, its daily life on the streets, the stairs, the rack railways and in the bars. Although the port has lost its importance, the rich past is still present in the impoverished city. The film echoes this ambiguous situation in its dialectical poetic style, interweaving the daily life reality (of 1963) with the history of the city and changing from black and white to colour, finally leaving us with hopeful perspective for the children who are playing on the stairs and hills of this beautiful town.
Valparaiso
A peasant without money or work, sells his soul to "El Garrudo" in order to get wealth and marry the young and beautiful Petita. Years later, Juan Maula and "El Garrudo" debate in a duel of "payas" (a singing and composing competition) , where the peasant's soul and his freedom will be the prize.
Juan Maula y el Garrudo
A film about Salvador Allende's 1964 presidential campaign.
Le train de la victoire
Shot alongside "À Valparaíso," "The Small Tent" observes a small circus performance perched high above the city and focuses on the faces and reactions of the children in its audience. The film offers a tender, poetic look at fleeting joy and communal spectacle.
The Small Tent
An expedition to an antarctic base.
La Universidad en la Antartica
Photographer Patricio Guzmán Campos has died in exile. Silvia edited his retrospective book a few years ago and after learning about Patricio's death, she sits down to read again the letters he sent her, in which he reveals the feelings and reflections provoked by facing his photography during the process of making the book, where he sees a place that has been taken away from him, but which he tries to hold on to through his memories.