Cinema
Mimbre
Sergio Bravo · 1957
Synopsis
A domestic chronicle of the work of Alfredo Manzano, known as Manzanito, a basket-maker, in his workshop in the Quinta Normal district of Santiago: the wicker that is cleaned, then woven, according to Luis Horta and the University of California's account. The film, of about ten minutes and eighty-five shots, starts from an abstraction in tight shots before gradually revealing the place of work; Violeta Parra's music accompanies this succession of visual impressions.
Context
Shot on 16 mm, in black-and-white reversal stock, by a crew of two and in natural light alone, the film was the first production of the Centre of Experimental Cinema. Violeta Parra played her music on the guitar during a silent screening, once the editing was finished. Luis Horta sees in it a closed world that defies the realist image of the Chile of the time and links its form to the Bauhaus, Norman McLaren and Walter Ruttmann; David Vera Meiggs, cited in the 2023 university tribute, makes it a turning point in Chilean cinema.
Who it is for
Ten minutes of hands and wicker, to the rhythm of a guitar; a short film with no French or English title.
Prizes and reception
The film that inaugurated the university's experimental workshop, and one of the milestones of Chilean documentary.
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