Best of The Fests

THE WANDERING SOAP OPERA
LA TELENOVELA ERRANTE

• Directors: Raul Ruiz, Valeria Sarmiento
• CHILE / 2017 / DCP / Colour / 80´ / Spanish; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Raúl Ruiz, Pía Rey
• Director of Photography: Leo Kocking, Héctor Ríos, Rodrigo Avilés
• Editing: Galut Alarcón
• Music: Jorge Arriagada
• Cast: Luis Alarcón, Patricia Rivadeneira, Roberto Chignoli, Maricarmen Arrigorriaga, Fernando Bordeu, Maria Erica Ramos, Francisco Reyes
• Producer: Raúl Ruiz, Chamila Rodríguez, Leo Kocking, Andrés Racz, Enrique León
• Production Co.: Poetastros
• World Sales: Poetastros

One of the most prominent filmmakers of Chile, Raúl Ruiz left behind a vast filmography of over 100 films and an unfinished project when he passed away in 2011. His wife, filmmaker and editor Valeria Sarmiento, completed this project by adding additional footage to the 16mm raw film material that Ruiz had shot in 1990 in Chile as well as editing and furnishing it with a score. The resulting work premiered at Locarno Film Festival as Ruiz’s 121st film. The Wandering Soap Opera is divided into seven days with each day corresponding to one sequence that was shot over the course of one day and follows the format of soap operas, most popular cultural phenomenon in Chile as it satirises the reality of the country post-Pinochet.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.