Sebastián Lelio
- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Born in 1974, Sebastián Lelio is one of the leading figures (along with
Pablo Larraín,
Andrés Wood and a few others) of the
post-dictatorship Chilean cinema. After graduating from the "Escuela de
Cine de Chile" in Santiago, Lelio started by making shorts (he made
five from 1995 to 2003, as well as a documentary). From 2005 on, he
directed four remarkable feature films, the first three very dark, the
fourth one somewhat lighter, which all garnered awards in the festival
circuit.
The Sacred Family (2005) is
kind of Chilean version of
Pier Paolo Pasolini's
Teorema (1968). It was followed by
Navidad (2009), a drama of uncommon
intensity focusing on three teenagers alienated from their families and
The Year of the Tiger (2011),
recounting the escape of an inmate during Chile's 2010 earthquake.
Coming after this taught triptych,
Gloria (2013) surprises by its
peaceful tone. The amorous adventures of Gloria, a sixty-year-old
office worker in Santiago, although not without tensions and
bitterness, are less upsetting than what Lelio had filmed before. But
whether dark or rosy, Lelio's cinema explores the Chilean society of
today with the same acuteness.
