Augusto Góngora and Paulina Urrutia are the focus of Oscar®-nominated director Maite Alberdi's (The Mole Agent) latest film The Eternal Memory, which arrives in UK cinemas from 10 November 2023.
It’s a tender and poignant portrayal of their unbreakable bond and enduring love for one another.
The Eternal Memory is both an inquiry into the mechanisms of individual and collective remembrance. What – and who – do we recall from our past? Why do we forget or suppress certain memories, and what effect does this have, on a person as well as on an entire country?
Ahead of its release in UK cinemas read more about Augusto and Paulina and Maite’s experience making the film.
Augusto Góngora
Augusto Góngora is a veteran Chilean journalist and prominent chronicler of the crimes of the Pinochet regime. The director of The Eternal Memory states:
“Augusto was a very important journalist, and his work took place during two different points of Chilean history. During the dictatorship, he played an important role by being part of Teleanalisis, a clandestine newscast that gave an account of what was happening in the country, when mainstream media wasn’t covering what was going on. Together with other fellow journalists, he would go out into the streets to record everything that happened plus interviewing people, and these tapes were distributed clandestinely nationwide. Those images are today the main archive that exists from the period of the dictatorship in Chile. He was in charge of generating what is today the visual memory of a country, it is so important to our history.”
Paulina Urrutia
Paulina Urrutia is an actress, activist and politician and Former Minister of the National Council of Culture and the Arts of Chile. Maite highlights that:
“Paulina is a well-known theater, film and television actress. She’s famous and recognized politically also. She was the first Minister of Culture in Chile when that Ministry was created. Her lifelong passion for culture and art caught my attention. It is inspiring how she now is so dedicated to taking care of her partner.”
Maite on how she came across Paulina and Augusto and why she chose to tell their story:
“They are well-known public figures in Chile, and have been for many years. One day, I was hired to give a presentation at a university where Paulina was director of the Theater Faculty. While she was doing a presentation, I noticed Augusto in the room. He already had Alzheimer's by that point, and I saw how she made it part of her work and her life, he wasn’t just sitting at home. He was accompanying her at work, and she let him participate, interrupt, she was not ashamed, she even enjoyed having him there. I had never seen a person with dementia so integrated into a caregiver’s life. She seemed to really enjoy having him there.”
The Eternal Memory is in UK cinemas from 10 November.