La Hija Del General
59mins/ 2006/ Chilie/ Dir. María Elena Wood
The story of Michelle Bachelet and her surprising journey along the road to the presidency of Chile.
Despite being a socialist, a single parent and an agnostic, Dr. Michelle Bachelet succeeds in becoming the first woman President of Chile, one of South America’s most conservative nations, and captures the attention of the world’s press with her singularly female way of engaging with politics.
Chilean filmmaker María Elena Wood spent one year following this once anonymous doctor and socialist militant as she travelled through Chile on the campaign trail, discovering some of the forces motivating Dr. Bachelet and examining the high points in her personal and family life.
PLUS DISCUSSION:
With Lorna Scott Fox hosted by Oscar Guardiola-Rivera
Lorna Scott Fox
Lorna Scott Fox is a journalist, critic and translator who lived in Chile as a diplomat’s child, and has been back several times over the last few decades. In September 2006 she was sent by the London Review of Books to write about the situation of Chile under President Michelle Bachelet, from a woman’s perspective: the article contains only women’s voices.
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera
In his hugely engaging book, What If Latin America Ruled the World?, Colombian writer Oscar Guardiola-Rivera sets the record straight about Latin America’s role in the world. He shows that, far from fitting its stereotype, a region of banana republics and utopias, the peoples of Latin America have risen and now stand together. Taking control of their own destinies and resources while distributing rewards, Latin Americans have resisted some of the worst consequences of the unfettered market policies that have wreaked havoc elsewhere. Oscar introduced the book to British audiences at the Hay Literary Festival – the most important of its kind in the United Kingdom – last 31 May. The qualified audience attending Hay gave the book a very warm welcome. All ‘preview’ copies of the book sold out in a day. BBC journalist and Hay Chairperson Ariane Koek says of Oscar’s appearance at the Festival: “I met a man on the train back to London who said ‘the best thing I heard at Hay which was truly inspirational, new and visionary was a lecture about What If Latin America Ruled the World?’ He had bought Oscar’s book and was ecstatic!” He will join culture critic Juan Toledo for a conversation on women in power and the future of the Americas and the world.
Watch this film alongside The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt as a DOUBLE BILL: WOMEN OF SOUTH AMERICA all afternoon on Sunday 27 June at the Tricycle.