Cuerpo Celeste
Date:
January 9, 2023
Cuerpo Celeste
Cuerpo Celeste
by Nayra Ilic
Planta | Chile
dispàrte | Italy
Oro Films | Chile
Hora Magica | Chile
2nd feature
Looking for Festival Release
Logline
Chile, 1990. For Celeste nothing will be the same anymore.
Her father died in front of her, and after months living away she returns to her mother before she sells their house. Both will struggle between memories and a future that takes on space.
Synopsis
Summer 1990, Chile returns to democracy after 17 years of dictatorship. In a coastal town in the Atacama Desert, in a laid-back liberal community, Celeste (16) spends New Year’s Eve with friends and family. Everything seems to bring joy and hope, when suddenly the next day her father dies because of a heart attack. After this tragic event, Celeste’s mother, Consuelo, falls into a personal crisis, leaving the girl in the care of her sister in Copiapó.
Almost one year later, an astronomical event takes place at the coastal town. Consuelo asks Celeste to return to their house to meet again. Celeste, unwillingly, accepts. Consuelo doesn’t know how to deal with her husband’s death and decides to sell the house, while she desperately tries to reconnect with Celeste, who also struggles with the acceptance of grief, collecting small objects that remind her of her father and their life before his death.
For her nothing is the same anymore: the place is full of tourists who don’t respect the nature where she grew up, her eternal lover starts dealing cocaine with other fisherman, and the desert where she used to look for fossils with her father turned into a forensic territory; it seems there are bodies of desaparecidos there.
During the eclipse, between darkness and shadows, where the reality is mixt with the magical, Celeste understands that the world she’s experiencing is more hostile than death itself, and that death is a new beginning where love is the only thing that transcends.
Director’s Profile
Nayra ilic García is a Chilean filmmaker and writer, Master in Documentary Cinema (University of Chile), Bachelor of Arts, Mention of Acting (Catholic University of Chile), Specialization in Film Direction (Film School of Chile), Diploma in Advanced Screenwriting (International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños EICTV, Cuba). She has received in several occasions the support of CORFO, DIRAC, MERCOSUR RECAM Grant, FFA (Audiovisual Promotion Fund) and the Private Fund of L90 Cinedigital of Minera la Escondida. Celeste is her second feature film, which mixes biographical locations of the Atacama Desert from where she is originally from, focused on an intimate story. Currently, she works as a teacher in the Film School of Universidad Austral.
Company Profile
PLATA – Planta is a Chilean film production company based in Santiago and led by producer Fernando Bascuñán. Founded to blend fresh voices with established talents, Planta’s films have premiered at major festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Sundance, and Rotterdam. Key works include Simón de la Montaña by Federico Luis, winner of the 2024 Cannes Critics’ Week; Rapaz, a short by Felipe Gálvez (Cannes Critics’ Week 2018); documentary series Gabinete and Habitar (2018); Vida de Familia by Alicia Scherson and Cristián Jiménez (Sundance and Rotterdam 2017); and Moises Sepúlveda’s debut Las Analfabetas (Venice Critics’ Week 2013).
DISPÀRTE – dispàrte is a Rome-based production company founded by Alessandro Amato and Luigi Chimienti.
We develop projects with an international appeal and imagined for a wide audience, through a careful editorial process within international workshops and co-production markets. Our movies have been selected in prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Locarno.
In 2024 we released Los Domingos Mueren Más Personas by Iair Said, a co-production with Campo Cine (Argentina), at ACID – Cannes Film Festival and Windless by Pavel G. Vesnakov, a co-production with Red Carpet Films (Bulgaria), at Karlovy-Vary IFF Proxima section.
Among our recent releases are: Margini, premiered at the Venice International Critics’ Week (Audience Award) and Maternal, premiered at the Locarno IFF – Main Competition (winning four awards).
dispàrte is a member of AGICI, EPC and EFA.