Carmen Bunster (b. 6 January 1918 – d. 23 April 2012) was a Chilean

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

In Chile

From 1950 to 1973, Carmen Bunster participated actively in the theater company of the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, working alongside other performers such as Mario Lorca, Carmen Barros, , Bélgica Castro, Kerry Keller and Diana Sanz, among others. In 1972, Bunster collaborated with

Isabel Parra Violeta Isabel Cereceda Parra (born 29 September 1939), better known as Isabel Parra, is a famous Chilean singer-songwriter and interpreter of Latin American musical folklore. Early years Parra was born in Chile in 1939 and began her career in ...

and

Inti-Illimani Inti-Illimani (; from Quechuan ''Inti'' and Aymara '' Illimani)'' are an instrumental and vocal Latin American folk music ensemble from Chile. The band was formed in 1967 by a group of university students and it acquired widespread popularity in ...

for the studio album ', with

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

s written by

Luis Advis Luis Advis Vitaglich (10 February 1935 – 9 September 2004)http://www.lanacion.cl/p4_lanacion/site ''Falleció Luis Advis, compositor de la "Cantata Santa María de Iquique"'' was a Chilean professor of philosophy, and a noted composer of traditi ...

and based on texts by

Violeta Parra Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (; 4 October 1917 – 5 February 1967) was a Chilean composer, singer-songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She pioneered the Nueva Canción Chilena (The Chilean New Song), a renewal an ...

. One of Bunster's most famous performances was her role in a 1956 production of Germán Luco Cruchaga's 1928 play ''La viuda de Apablaza'', which tells the story of a young widower who falls in love with one of her late husband's farm workers.

Exile

In the wake of the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...

, Bunster fled

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in 1974 and would never return. She would continue her career as an

even as she lived in multiple different countries. The most notable of these was the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nominated ''

Alsino and the Condor ''Alsino and the Condor'' ( es, Alsino y el cóndor) is a 1982 List of Nicaraguan films, Nicaraguan film directed by Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littín. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It won the Golden Prize a ...

'', directed by

Miguel Littín Miguel Ernesto Littin Cucumides (born 9 August 1942) is a Chilean film director, screenwriter, film producer and novelist. He was born to a Palestinian father, Hernán Littin and a Greek mother, Cristina Cucumides. Career Miguel Littin dir ...

. She finally settled in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, where she was recognized on 16 December 2003 with the Union of Independent Theaters's Prize. She would reside in Costa Rica until her death on 23 April 2012 of natural causes.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunster, Carmen 1918 births 2012 deaths Chilean stage actresses Chilean film actresses Actresses from Buenos Aires Chilean people of German descent Argentine emigrants to Chile Chilean emigrants to Costa Rica