Imagen latente

Mitten in der Pinochet-Diktatur sucht der Fotograf Pedro nach seinem Bruder, der zu jenen Desaparecidos – den Verschwundenen – zählt, die ab 1975 Opfer der Folterungen in der berüchtigten Villa Grimaldi waren. Doch seine Recherchen verlaufen im Nirgendwo – die Angst hat längst die Seelen der Menschen aufgefressen und der Terror ist überall. Perelman erzählt seine sinistre Geschichte als Parabel, die Spielfilmszenen und dokumentarische Materialien gegenschneidet. Es erinnert ein wenig an BLOW UP, wenn eine Kamera und Fotos helfen sollen, jene Wahrheit zu entbergen, die der ofzielle Apparat mit allen Mitteln zu verstecken trachtet. (Thomas Mießgang)

Upon his return to Chile from self-imposed exile, Pablo Perelman gave searing narrative form to the haunting limbo of Chile’s desaparecidos in this clandestinely-made film inspired by the kidnapping, torture and assassination of his own brother by Pinochet’s forces. Completed in 1987 but banned until 1990, IMAGEN LATENTE became one of the most emblematic films of the post-dictatorship transition by drawing on powerful interviews conducted by Perelman with victims of torture at Villa Grimaldi, the notorious detention centre that exerts an ominous presence throughout. This story of a commercial photographer searching both for his lost brother and for an authentic image form, capable of capturing the grave truth about human rights crimes, carries a heavy metaphorical weight as a statement about the power and responsibility of cinematic memory.

“And why do you take pictures?” someone asks the photographer, suggesting that his images mean nothing in the political struggle. The question here is no longer whether something is political or not, but rather how we should even grasp the political in a context of total crisis and unmitigated pain. (Haden Guest & Dominga Sotomayor)

 

Pablo Perelman: A LA SOMBRA DEL SOL (1974), CRÓNICA DE TLACOTALPAN (1976, K), SAMBA YE (1980, K), FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (1981, K), LOS JAIVAS EN VIVO («EN ALGÚN LUGAR DE AMÉRICA») (1983, K), ARCHIPIÉLAGO (1992), LA LECCIÓN DE PINTURA (2011), TESTIMONIOS PARA EL CENTENARIO DE GABRIEL VALDÉS SUBERCASEAUX (2020)