Arthouse fans are likely already familiar with Chilean director Patricio Guzmán thanks to his acclaimed "Nostalgia For The Light." While the wait has been a little long — five years, in fact — the director is back with "The Pearl Button," and it looks like another breathtaking documentary from the filmmaker.
Winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin for Best Screenplay (a rare feat for a documentary), along with an Ecumenical Jury prize, that poetically takes in the universe around us all in telling the story of Chile’s painful colonial past. Here’s the official synopsis:
The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds the voices of the Earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of a mysterious button that was discovered in its seabed. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline, the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian indigenous people, of the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.
Our review called "The Pearl Button" a "questing, curious, expansive film," so when it goes into limited release on October 23rd, be sure to try and track it down. Watch below.