Lucía

Niles Atallah : 2010

Lucía is a young woman who works as a seamstress in a factory and lives with her father, Luis, in an old house in Santiago. The story takes place in December 2006 during the weeks from the ex-dictator Pinochet's funeral to Christmas Eve. Through the simple observation of Lucía's daily life, we are allowed access into a hidden and neglected world of a generation striving to recover from the military dictatorship; into situations marked by historical events that continue to influence contemporary Chilean society. On Christmas Eve, Lucía and Luis dress up as Santa Claus and Santa's helper and entertain the children of a doctor currently under suspicion for working as a torturer during Pinochet's regime. Much of the story takes place in Lucía's house, a place seemingly suspended in time since the 1970s, filled with dark and untouched territories, remnants of the traumas of its past. In this environment, Lucía struggles to keep up the household, support her elderly father and at the same time, nourish hopes for her own future. The film premiered at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2010.