Chilean Film Festival to Be Held Online and for Free

The Santiago International Film Festival (SANFIC) in Chile inaugurated today its 16th edition online with over 80 international films and a special focus on films created by women. 

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This years’ Festival will be held 100% online and will hold a new section named “Women Directors' ' that seeks to highlight and recognize the work of women from around the world in the movie industry. 

This year, “Women Directors” will host the films of 6 women which had a great impact on prestigious film festivals around like Cannes, Venice, Sundance, and Toronto. 

Among the women which films will be exhibited are Haifaa Al-Mansour (Saudi Arabia) with ‘The Perfect Candidate’, Mounia Meddour (France) with Papicha , Victoria Solano (Colombia) with Sumercé, Mo Scarpelli (United States) with ‘El Father Plays Himself’; Sabrina Blanco (Argentina) with ‘La Botera’ ; and  Sinai Sganzerla ( Brazil) with A Mulher Da Luz Propia.

The festival, which will be held until August 23, offers a wide variety of world-renowned films as well as various workshops and online meetings with special guests. 

According to the festival’s coordinator, Loreto Araya, the COVID-19 pandemic forced to find a new way to present the festival to the public. 

"We reinvented ourselves (...) the artistic director had to start from scratch because all (the films) were already negotiated to go in person and we had to start all over again to go digital", said Araya. 

The festival also has a section named Sanfic Educa, which is dedicated to showcasing movies for kids and teenagers. According to Loreto, “They are different films that are not the Hollywood blockbuster of‘ The Avengers ’ because many times children believe that that is the only thing that exists for them”. 

Other themes touched upon in the festival are migration, social issues, and the environment. The festival can be watched online upon  registration at Sanfic's website.