Sinopsis
En Chile, dos décadas después del final de la dictadura militar, el director de un Hospital Universitario y el jefe del Departamento de Psiquiatría están preocupados por la llegada de dos pacientes, ex agentes del régimen militar.
La curiosidad de los estudiantes de medicina y sus sospechas sobre los médicos protagonistas, establecen entre ellos una oscura conexión, en que la locura, el dolor y la esperanza de redención se mueven entre la vida y la muerte.
Profundamente autobiográfica, la película fue escrita, dirigida, actuada y musicalizada por médicos.
THE ACROBAT - A brief history
We are medical doctors…but
We decided to shoot this film after working for more than 35 years at our professions and at the height of our careers.
The origin of this project goes back to when we were young students studying at the university under the heavy hand of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship. During those years, at the Universidad de Chile’s Medical School there was an incredible vibrant period of creativity, particularly in drama. Dozens of plays were created and performed by generations of medical students.
The Acrobat was the first semi-professional play written and performed by Owen Korn and Selim Abara under the direction of Rogelio Isla. Its original name was "Confessions in a Dump" and was premiered in 1984. It was re-released in 1988, this time with the name "The Acrobat".
I personally kept elements of that story in my memory that decades later were arranged into the script of the film. I took a short filmmaking course in New York in 2004 and then ten years went by before we made the film.
It was filmed in five months on weekends while we continued with our habitual medical work during the week. Filmmaking professionals were incorporated into different areas: direction of photography, lighting, sound, until we finally managed to complete the project.
We experienced the complexity of filmmaking while maintaining our daily lives as doctors.
It was practically an act of desperation in order to leave an audiovisual testimony of a generation of medical students and artists.
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Vicente De Carolis is a Plastic Surgeon in private practice, former Head of the Plastic Surgery Unit at the University of Chile, Clinical Hospital.
Owen Korn Is Head of the Gastro-Esophageal Surgery Unit at the University of Chile, Clinical Hospital.
Selim Abara is Pediatric Pulmonologist and was Chairman of the Chilean Society for Pediatric Pulmonology the year the film was shoot.
Rogelio Isla is a Psychoanalyst Psychiatrist, Head of the Dynamic Psycotherapy Unit and Director of the graduate Analytical Psycotherapy degree of the Psychiatric Institute Hospital of Chile.
Film data sheet summary
SCREENPLAY: Vicente De Carolis
Written in collaboration with:
Owen Korn
Selim Abara
Rogelio Isla
MUSIC: Rogelio Isla
PRODUCTION: Vicente De Carolis (Hortoconte Films)
CAST
Owen Korn
Selim Abara
Nicolas Pavez
Jimena Del Barrio
Raul Lopez
FILM EDITOR
Danielle Fillios
Vicente De Carolis
Camilo Cuevas
SOUND DESIGN: Cristian Freund
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TECHNICAL TEAM
GENERAL PRODUCTION: Dominique Martels
ASSITANT DIRECTOR: Camilo Cuevas
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY:
Sergio Armstrong
Rodrigo Aviles
Cristian Petit-laurent
Christian Burgos
LIGHTS: Fabian Olguin
Sound recording: Boris Alejandro Herrera
Sound recording: Carlos Sanchez
Steady Cam operator: Felipe Lanzarotti
Steady Cam operator: Diego Miranda
Dolly operator: Matias Herrera
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POST PRODUCTION
Sound Mix: Cristian Freund, Zoofilms
Image post production: Grupo, Atomica
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