*Please note that due to circumstances beyond our control, this event has been rescheduled from Friday 18 October to Thurs 24 October.*

On the fifth anniversary of Chile’s immense Social Uprising against the neoliberal and authoritarian legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship – which saw the South American country’s largest ever protests – join Alborada for a special screening of the acclaimed Alborada Films documentary Santiago Rising (synopsis below).

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the film’s director Nick MacWilliam, Chilean journalist Dr Marcela Pizarro and academic Marcos Ortiz. It will be chaired by Peter Watt, academic and host of the Alborada podcast The Americas Uncovered.

Admission is via voluntary donation with all proceeds going towards supporting independent media, equally split between Chile’s Señal Tres La Victoria, which features in the film, and Alborada. 

Hosted by Alborada in association with Bolivar Hall and Alborada Films. Supported by Asamblea Chilena en Londres (Chilean Assembly in London) and the Independent Media Association.

TICKETS: Tickets are available on a pay-what-you-can basis. Nobody will be turned away due to lack of funds.

Speakers

Dr Marcela Pizarro Coloma has worked as a journalist in international news and filmmaking for over 20 years. She began at the Associated Press and then went on to work at Al Jazeera English, most notably at The Listening Post, the channel’s media critique show. She has focused on the political economy, geopolitics and culture of the news media around the world. Her long form reports, documentaries and animations look at issues of race, gender and class and much of her work has been dedicated to histories of journalism in the Global South.

Marcos Ortiz is a PhD candidate researching Chile’s traditional print media. In 2019, Chile experienced a social uprising that challenged the prevalent neoliberal system. Marcos’ research explores the underlying reasons why the Chilean traditional print media, entangled with other hegemonic actors – political parties, corporations and think tanks – aimed to secure the political economic status quo even after it was put into question during the Chilean Spring. In this endeavour, he investigates institutions of power that prevail from the Pinochet years to revisit and reinvigorate Western theorisations of media power and ideology from a Global South perspective. Follow his analysis at Ojo del Medio.

Nick MacWilliam is a British filmmaker and journalist who lived in Chile between 2010 and 2014. His work on Latin American politics and culture has been published in New Left Review, Jacobin, In These Times, New Internationalist, Mint Press News, Tribune, Counterpunch, NACLA, Red Pepper, teleSUR and elsewhere. He is co-editor of Alborada, an independent media platform focused on Latin America. He has produced video reports for The Real News Network, Justice for Colombia and Alborada.

Peter Watt is a lecturer in Latin American Studies at Sheffield University and the host of Alborada's podcast The Americas Uncovered.

Venue: Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL (nearest tube: Warren Street)

Doors open at 5.30pm / Film screening from 6 to 7.30pm / Q&A from 7.30 to 8.30pm 

You can rent or buy Santiago Rising digitally here. You can also buy a DVD copy of Santiago Rising from our online shop here. 

On the night, we will also have an Alborada stall with our t-shirts, mugs, prints and hoodies as well as DVDs and books. 

Facebook event page

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Santiago Rising (directed by Nick MacWilliam, 2021) takes place on the streets of Chile’s capital city in late 2019 as massive protests over economic inequality engulf the country.

Filmed during the weeks after protests began, Santiago Rising meets social movements, protesters and ordinary people in their struggle for equality and human rights.

The film charts the build-up to the historic vote, in October 2020, that saw Chileans vote for a new constitution to replace the one imposed during the brutal Pinochet dictatorship.

Santiago Rising emphasises the prominent role of music and art in political dissent. We also see the state’s attempts to crush the protest movement through a violent police crackdown.

Although the odds are stacked against them, Chileans find strength in unity as they fight to overcome Pinochet’s enduring legacy.