[I will be adding this to an existing stub article. As of yet there are no real sections other than "Filmography," which is currently incomplete. I will be taking the existing contributions and adding them to the appropriate sections, though many need corrections and citations. I also plan on adding the original language film titles first and the english film titles in brackets where appropriate.]

Valeria Sarmiento is a Chilean-born film editor, director and writer[1] whose career spans as far back as the late 1960's[1] and early 1970's[2]. She has directed over 20 films - 8 of which are feature-length - and has edited more than 50[2].

Biography

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Sarmiento was born on the 29th of October[3], 1948 in Valparaíso, Chile[1], where she spent her childhood years[2]. Sarmiento recalls her father taking her to see all the new films from Europe and America when she was growing up, as she was already a "passionate cinephile"[2].

In 1967, she moved to the adjacent city, Viña del Mar, to attend Universidad de Chile, studying philosophy as well as film[1][2]. As a student of Chile's first film school[2], Sarmiento was under the tutelage of Aldo Francia, a Marxist, catholic paediatrician known for being one of the pioneers of "Nuevo Cine Chileno" (a.k.a. New Chilean Cinema).[4][2]

In 1973, the "Marxist democracy"[2] government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in a military coup, causing Sarmiento - now married to filmmaker Raúl Ruiz - to leave Chile with her husband[1][5][2]. They landed as political refugees in Europe, eventually settling in Paris, France[2][1][5] and spent the next 17 years in exile[2]. When Chile became a democracy once again in 1990, Sarmiento and Ruiz began occasionally visiting Chile[2][5], Sarmiento first returning to her hometown of Valparaíso to film Amelia Lópes O'Neill (1991)[6][2].

Her husband Ruiz passed away in August of 2011[7], and was interred in Chile[8][9].

Sarmiento is still making films, and currently still lives in France[3].

Career

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Sarmiento's career is said to have been largely "overshadowed" by her husband Ruiz and her collaborations on his work[2]. Unable to get funding for her films when they first moved to France[1], Sarmiento worked as editor on a vast number of Ruiz's films[1][2][5][10] as he was more able to get funding as a filmmaker with international recognition[1]. Though some critics have denounced her films as "derivative" of her husband's style[1], many have praised her for employing the perspective of "marginalized social players"[1], for her understanding of historical paradox[6][2] and ironic melodrama and dark humour[6], and her ability to portray a female, and occasionally feminist[3], view of the world[6][3][1][2].

Sarmiento released her first solo directorial project in 1972[2]. The film, Sueño como de colores (I Dream in Colour), a documentary about two working-class women in Chile who perform striptease in an attempt to ameliorate their circumstances, received mixed reviews[1][2]. It was criticized for not addressing issues relevant to the Allende government's goals[1]. She was then involved in making the film Poesia popular: la teoría y la práctica (Popular Poetry: Theory and Practice) (1972), a documentary in praise of the national 'Nueva canción' ('new song') movement[2]. This film, and others Sarmiento and Ruiz were involved in at the time, openly supported the Popular Unity party's political ideals.[1][2]

After her and Ruiz's escape to France in 1973, Sarmiento's films turned away from nationalist rhetoric, and began to directly and thematically deal with the identity crisis experienced as an individual living exile[1]. Her first film as an exile was a french-language film; La Femme au foyer (The Housewife) (1975), dealt with how the "silent majority", especially bourgeois women, came to endorse the military coup of 1973[11][1].

Sarmiento's feature-length documentary El hombre cuando es hombre (A Man, When He Is a Man) (1982), an exploration of machismo[12], earned her international recognition and scandal[1][2]. She then directed Notre mariage (Our Marriage) (1984), an adaptation of a Corín Tellado novel[1], wherein a man buys a girl being sold by her destitute family and later claims her as his wife[1][2][13].

Filmography

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Films as Director

(Unless otherwise indicated, film titles and dates obtained from the St. James Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia[1])

  • Sueño como de colores (I Dream in Colour) (1972)[2]
  • Poesia popular: la teoría y la práctica (Popular Poetry: Theory and Practice) (1972)
  • La Femme au foyer (The Housewife) (1975)
  • Le Mal du pays (The Bad Thing about This Country) (1979)
  • Gens de toutes partes, Gens de nulle parte (People from Everywhere, People from Nowhere) (1980)
  • El hombre cuando es hombre (A Man, When He Is a Man) (1982)
  • Notre mariage (Our Marriage) (1984)
  • Amelia Lópes O'Neill (1991)
  • Le planète des enfants (The Planet of Children [sic]) (1991)
  • Latin Women (1992)
  • Elle (She) (1995)
  • L'Inconnu de Strasbourg (A Stranger in Strasbourg[14]) (1998)
  • Au Louvre avec Miquel Barceló (2004)[14]
  • Secretos[3] (Secrets) (2008)[14]
  • As Linhas de Torres Vedras (2012 - 3 episodes)[15]
  • Diario de mi residencia en Chile (Diary of a Residence in Chile) (TV Series) (2014)[2][15]
  • Diario de mi residencia en Chile: María Graham (Feature film) (2014)[15][16]

Films as Editor

(Unless otherwise indicated, film titles, translations and dates obtained from the St. James Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia[1])

  • La Expropiación (The Expropriation) (1971)
  • Los Minuteros (The Minute Hands; The Street Photographer) (1972)
  • Diatogue d'exilés (Dialogue of Exiles) (1974)
  • Mensche verstreut und Welt verkehrt (The Scattered Body and the World Upside Down[10]) (1975)
  • Soteto (Ruiz— doc, short) (1976)
  • La Vocation suspendue (The Suspended Vocation) (1977)
  • Colloque de chiens (Dog's Language) (1977)
  • Des Grandes événements et des gens ordinaires: les élections (Big Events and Ordinary People: Elections) (1979)
  • Petit Manuel d'histoire de Prance, ch. 1 (Short History of France, ch.1 "From the Gaulle Ancestors to the Taking of Power by LouisXIV") (1979)
  • Le Borgne (1980 - 4 episodes)
  • Guns (1980).
  • Le Territoire (The Territory) (1981)
  • Het dak van de walvis (On Top of the Whale) (1981)
  • Les Trois Couronnes du matelot (The Three Crowns of a Sailor) (1982)
  • La Ville des pirates (The City of Pirates) (1983)
  • Voyage autour d'une main (Voyage around a Hand) (1985)
  • Derrière le mur (Behind the Wall) (1988)
  • Viaggio clandestino (The SecretJoumey) (1994)
  • Généalogies d'une crime (Geneologies of a Crime) (1997)
  • Le Film à venir (Film in the Future) (1997)
  • Mysteries of Lisbon (2011)

Awards and Nominations

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Goldman, Ilene S. (1999). Unterburger, Amy L. (ed.). St. James Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia. Visible Ink Press. pp. 365–367. ISBN 9781578590926.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Christie, Ian (November 2015). "Valparaiso Mon Amour". Sight and Sound: 54–55.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Valeria Sarmiento". Cinechile. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  4. ^ "Aldo Francia Boido (1923-1996) - Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile". www.memoriachilena.cl. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  5. ^ a b c d Romney, Jonathan (October 2011). "Raúl Ruiz: 1941-2011". Sight & Sound: 12–13.
  6. ^ a b c d Audé, Françoise (February 1992). "Fidèle, modèle et dépravée, Valparaiso". Positif: 13–15.
  7. ^ Bergan, Ronald (2011-08-19). "Raúl Ruiz obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  8. ^ "Raúl Ruiz (director)". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
  9. ^ "Beloved Chilean Filmmaker Raúl Ruiz Dies at 70". El Repuertero.cl, Noticias de Puerto Montt y Los Lagos. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  10. ^ a b "BFI | Sight & Sound | The rubicon and the rubik cube: Exile, paradox and Raúl Ruiz". old.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  11. ^ "G.R.E.C / La femme au foyer". www.grec-info.com. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  12. ^ "A Man When He Is a Man". MUBI. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  13. ^ Rouyer, Philippe (1985). "Notre Mariage: Les rondes du coeur". Positif.
  14. ^ a b c "Valeria Sarmiento". MUBI. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  15. ^ a b c "Valeria Sarmiento". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  16. ^ "Maria Graham: Diary of a Residence in Chile". MUBI. Retrieved 2016-02-07.