Deserted Memory January 25, 2007

Circled by lost landmines and abandoned in the driest desert on earth—the Atacama of northern Chile—Chacabuco is home to one man who has chosen to live there alone. This lone guardian has dedicated himself to re-telling the ghost town's history as a nitrate mine and Pinochet-era concentration camp.

Deserted Memory uses the crumbling ruins of Chacabuco to investigate Chile's buried collective memory. The film features the testimony of two ex-political prisoners who re-encounter the former concentration camp for the first time in 30 years. They struggle to salvage what memories they can amongst the twisted metal and stripped walls of the concentration camp.

The film includes interviews with the town's current lone guardian as well as the original guardian of the ghost town, who now suffers from Alzheimer's disease, despite his years of struggle for public remembrance of Chacabuco.

There is no direct political message, nor does the film present an abundance of information. Rather, an emphasis is placed on the emptiness that permeates the dilapidated remains of the abandoned town, without reaching any fixed conclusions.

Deserted Memory is a stark portrait of Chacabuco's present-day condition set against the silence of the desert landscape and mixed with archival photographs of the town's nitrate history. While located in Chile, the film provides a universally accessible opportunity to bear witness to the testimony of trauma, and advance toward the process of healing.

$10 donation. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Show at 7:00 pm.

Official Website: http://www.redpoppyarthouse.org/film.html