Carmen leads a well-heeled bourgeois life as a housewife and the spouse of a respected doctor. Her own children have left the nest, and three years into Chile’s military dictatorship the couple has made their peace with the situation. While Carmen is overseeing remodelling work at their seaside summer home, one of her friends, a priest, asks her to help a wounded man. She resolves to leave her sheltered life behind and begins to care for the shooting victim in secret. Actress Manuela Martelli’s highly regarded debut behind the camera demonstrates her mastery of a steady-handed directorial style that is also rich in metaphors, adorned in opulent images and buoyed by atmospheric music and elegant performances.

Manuela Martelli has participated in more than 15 films as an actress. In 2010, she received a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Masters in Film at Temple University/USA. In 2014, APNEA, her first short film, premiered at the Festival del Cine in Valdivia/Chile. In addition, she was selected by the managers of the Chile Factory program of the Cannes Directors Fortnight to co-direct a short film with Amirah Tajdin, called LAND TIDES, which premiered in 2015. Currently, she is on tour with her debut feature film 1976.

Filmography (selection): 2014 APNEA (short film), 2015 LAND TIDES (short film; co-director: Amirah Tajdin), 2022 1976