REY received a Production Award in the Framework  program of the Torino Film Lab in November 2012. The project also participated in the CPH:FORUM in Copenhagen and the rivieraLAB at the Riviera Maya Film Festival in Mexico. In 2011, REY participated in the Binger Writer’s Lab in Amsterdam and the Script & Pitch workshop at the Torino Film Lab.

Rey is supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, Amiens Screenplay Development Support, the Torino Film Lab, the Binger FilmLab, an Australab Award, and a Chilean Corfo development grant. The project was also selected to participate in the Pavillon Les Cinémas du Monde, Cannes Film Festival & Cinéma en développement 5, Rencontres Cinémas d?Amérique Latine de Toulouse, France, 2010 and at Australab at the Valdivia International Film Festival in Chile, 2010.

REY is produced by DILUVIO in Chile and Lucie Kalmar of Mômerade in France.

LOGLINE
In 1860, a French lawyer dreamt of becoming the King of Patagonia. And he did become just that. Or so it seems.

SYNOPSIS
In 1860, a 35 year old Frenchman explores Araucania, an autonomous region in southern Chile. He travels with a local guide and carries a hand-made flag with him. He searches for Chief Mañil, but arrives too late, Mañil has just died. He goes on to meet his feared son Quilapan who is known to hate Europeans, but he manages to win his support and the backing of other Mapuche chiefs. They elect him King of Araucania and Patagonia, uniting their tribes for the first time in history.

The King is then confronted by the Chilean court of justice. His guide has turned him in and he now has to defend himself.  His reasonings and conclusions seem flawless: Araucania is outside of Chile, so how can Chile condemn him? But the events are retold in the trial and relevant facts seem to differ…

Imprisoned in a gruesome cell, ill-fed, feverish, constantly ridiculed, he takes refuge in ecstatic dreams. Spiraling into delirium, he travels south through his Patagonian kingdom populated with mythical creatures. Having fought for his vision with all his might, he finally lets out his last breath as he reaches the end of the world.

Video installation commissioned by the Cineteca Nacional de México (National Cinematheque of Mexico). This is a companion piece to the feature film “LUCIA” by Niles Atallah. The installation draws upon photographic studies in light and space shot before and during the production of the feature film.

The photographic studies were shot over a period of 18 months in an old house in Santiago, Chile, the main location in the film “LUCIA”. In the video installation a labyrinth is constructed in a gallery space measuring 14 meters by 7 meters. At the center of this dimly lit labyrinth there is a “luminous box”, measuring about 2 meters squared. The walls and ceiling of this structure are composed of backlit projections of the character Lucía walking through different rooms of her house.

The exhibition opened the annual “Foro Internacional de la Cineteca Nacional” in April, 2011 in Mexico City. It remained open throughout the month, adjacent to the screenings of the feature film “LUCIA”.

Technical Information and Credits
Audiovisual Installation ( 9’ loop)

Credits of the Cineteca Nacional de México: Paula Astorga, Verónica Ortiz Cisneros, Nelson Carro,
Allegra Cordero di Montezemolo, Francisco Rentería, Magaly Morales,
Miguel Ángel Ramírez, Alejandro Grande, Melina Díazmercado

Concept: NILES ATALLAH
7.0 Sound Design: ROBERTO ESPINOZA
Postproduction Sound: PABLO BAHAMONDEZ, SONAMOS.CL
Direct Sound: CLAUDIO VARGAS
Lucia: GABRIELA AGUILERA
Photography: NILES ATALLAH
Color and Image Correction: INTI BRIONES
Editing: JOSE LUIS TORRES LEIVA & NILES ATALLAH
Blu Ray Authoring: KINE-IMAGENES
Production company: DILUVIO

The World Premiere of “LUCIA” was held at the 58th San Sebastian International Film Festival in the Zabaltegi, “New Directors“ section, 2010 and it went on to the “Bright Future” section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands, 2011.

Website of the film.

Short Synopsis:
Lucia is a young woman who works as a seamstress in a factory and lives with her father in an old house in Santiago, Chile. The film occurs in December 2006 during the weeks that take place from the ex-dictator Pinochet’s funeral to Christmas. Through the simple observation of Lucia’s daily life, the spectator is allowed access into a hidden and neglected world of a generation of Chileans striving to recover from the military dictatorship.

Technical Information:
Duration: 80 min
Shooting format: Digital video and digital still photographs
Exhibition formats: DCP
Shooting location: Santiago, Chile
Production company: Diluvio
Country of production: Chile
Year: 2010

Cast:
LUCIA: Gabriela Aguilera
LUIS: Gregory Cohen
DR. ECHEVERRIA: Eduardo Barril
ELENA: Esperanza Silva
DANIELA: Francisca Bernardi
FERNANDO: Andrés Kalawski
MARTIN: Martín Kalawski
CLARITA: Julia Cintolesi
EDITH: Cristina Gómez

Crew:
Director and Scriptwriter: Niles Atallah
Assistant Directors: Eduardo Pacheco, José Luis Torres Leiva, Gabriela Sobarzo
Producers: Francisco Albornoz, Niles Atallah
Co-Producers: José Luis Torres Leiva, Gabriela Sobarzo
Head of Production: Francisco Albornoz
Director of Photography: Niles Atallah
Art Director and Wardrobe: Fernanda Montesi
Designer: Javier Pañella
Direct Sound: Claudio Vargas
Sound Design: Roberto Espinoza
Editors: Andrea Chignoli, José Luis Torres Leiva
Color and Image Correction: Inti Briones, Daniel Dávila y Kiné-Imágenes

Awards:
(2011) – FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. – French Critics Discovery Prize. – Special Jury Prize Coup de Coeur. Rencontres Cinémas d’Amérique de Toulouse, Francia.- Honorary Mention. DIFF, Festival Internacional de Cine Digital de Viña del Mar, Chile. (2010) – Best Director. Valdivia Festival Internacional de Cine, National Feature Film Competition, Chile. – Best Visual Work. Festival de Cine B, Santiago de Chile.

Festivals:
(2011) – International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands. Bright Future Section. – MFA, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA. New Latin American Cinema. – DIFF, Digital International Film Festival, Chile. Feature Film Competition. – DIVA, Festival Internacional de Cine Diversidad Valparaíso, Chile. -Festival de Cine Independiente de Iquique, Chile. – Rencontres Cinémas d’Amérique de Toulouse, Francia. Feature Film Competition. – 31 Foro Internacional de Cine de la Cinteca Nacional de Mexico, Mexico City. Inauguration film. – Festivalíssimo, Festival de Films Ibéro-Latinoamericains de Montreal, Canada. – First Run Film Series, Brussels, Belgium. – II Mostra del Cinema IberoAmericano, Roma, Palazzo delle Esposizioni. – Katowice Ars in Poland, Panorama Section. – Funf Seen Film Festival, Seefeld, Herrsching,Wörthsee, Germany. New International Film Section. – Ciclo Cine Club, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile. – IKSV Film, Istambul International Film Festival, Istambul, Turkey. Mined Zone Section. – Indie Festival, Sao Pablo, Brasil. Cine del Mundo Section. – Gwanju International Film Festival, South Korea. Humanity Vision Section. – Festival de Cine 4 + 1, Festival de Cine Fundacion Mapfre, Madrid, España / Buenos Aires, Argentina/ Bogota, Colombia/ Ciudad de México, México y Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. – Festival Filmar en America Latina, Geneva, Switzerland. – Festival Cine Latino, Nuovi Film Dall’America Latina, Bergamo, Italia. – Festival de Cine B 4, Exhibition of winning films from Festival de Cine B 3, Santiago, Chile. – (2010) Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián, Spain. Zabaltegi “New Directors”, World Premiere. – Filmfest Hamburg, Germany. Vitrina Section. – Festival Internacional de Cine de Valdivia, Chile. National Feature Film Competition. – Festival de Cine B 3, Santiago de Chile (2010). Feature Film Competition. – Festival de Cine de Antofagasta, Chile. Feature Film Competition. – International Film Festival Bratislava, Slovakia. Feature Film Competition. – Semana de Cine Experimental de Madrid, España. – Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, Habana, Cuba (2010). Official Selection. Ópera Prima.

Grants & Scholarships:
(2010) – Fondo de Fomento Audiovisual, Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes (National audiovisual fund in Chile) for postproduction. – Cine en Construcción 17 Rencontres Cinémas d’Amérique Latine de Toulouse, France. (2009) – Global Film Initiative (grant for Post Production) from San Francisco, California, USA. – Cine en Construcción 16, San Sebastián International Film Festival, San Sebastián, Spain. (2008) – Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Holland (for Digital Production). – Scholarship from the TyPA Foundation to participate in the Colón Workshop, XIV Taller de análisis de proyectos cinematográficos, in Colón, Argentina.

Video Installation:
Watch the video installation “LUCIA & EL BOSQUE DE CRISTAL” (“LUCIA & THE CRYSTAL FOREST”). This video installation is a companion piece to the feature film “LUCIA” and was exhibited alongside screenings of the feature film in the Cineteca Nacional de México in México CIty, 2011.