In this tense thriller direct from Cannes, affluence offers no security as a woman wakes up to the dangerous realities of life in Pinochet’s Chile.

Carmen is ensconced within Santiago’s bourgeoisie, which openly supports General Augusto Pinochet’s brutal regime. The pampered wife of a doctor, she redecorates their beach house while he stays in the city for work. But there is more to Carmen than the elegant, polished surface of her life suggests. And when the local priest seeks her help in caring for a young man who has been shot, she doesn’t hesitate, despite the peril involved in deciding to no longer be a silent witness to political horrors.

Actor-turned-director Manuela Martelli (Machuca, MIFF 2005) has crafted a powerful character study set in the bloodiest period in Chile’s history. Exploring this turbulent time from a woman’s point of view lends the narrative new authority – Martelli doesn’t give the military junta a face – while Mariá Portugal’s dark, synth-heavy score heightens the creeping unease experienced by Carmen. Made exclusively by a team of women behind the camera, 1976 is an impressive debut that matches the best of the paranoid thrillers of the decade in which it’s set.

“Tensely involving … Martelli offers a subtle, unobtrusive evocation of Chile in the 1970s.” – Screen Daily