Miguel Ernesto Littin Cucumides (born 9 August 1942) is a Chilean

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, film producer and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. He was born in Palmilla, Colchagua Valley. CHILE.

Career

Miguel Littin directed '' El Chacal de Nahueltoro'' (1969), becoming a major figure of the New Latin American Cinema. Littin was exiledd in Mexico shortly after Augusto Pinochet came to power in a military coup, which ousted President Salvador Allende, on September 11, 1973. His 1973 film '' The Promised Land (1973 film), The Promised Land'' was entered into the Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and the 8th Moscow International Film Festival. In Mexico, he directed several films: * '' Letters from Marusia'', based on a miners strike in Chile. ''Letters from Marusia'' was nominated for the Oscars

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. Winner of 9 Ariel awards, including Best Director, Best Script, and Best Film from the Mexican Film Academy. The Italian actor Gian Maria Volonte in the lead character, and Mikis Theodorakis composed the original music for the film. * ''El Recurso del Método'' (''Long Live the President'') based on

Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French ...

's novel '' El Recurso del método'' (''Reasons of State''); a co-production with Mexico, France and Cuba. Cannes Film Festival Official Competition. Produced by Costa Gavras and Michéle Ray. * ''

The Widow of Montiel ''The Widow of Montiel'' () is a 1979 Mexican-Colombian drama film directed by Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littín. It is based on a short story of the same name by the Colombian Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Marquez. It was entered i ...

'', with

Geraldine Chaplin Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American actress whose long career has included multilingual roles in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German films. Geraldine is a daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of his eigh ...

, based on a

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

short story. Berlin Film Festival Official Competition. Then he went to Nicaragua to make Alsino and the Condor, based on the novel Alsino by

Pedro Prado Pedro Prado Calvo (8 October 1886 – 31 January 1952) was a Chilean writer and architect. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1949. Biography Prado was born to parents Absalón Prado Marín and Laura Calvo on October 8, 1886. H ...

. Dean Stockwell on the lead character. The films won multiple awards around the globe and were nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. In 1981, he was a member of the jury at the

12th Moscow International Film Festival The 12th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 21 July 1981. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Brazilian film '' O Homem que Virou Suco'' directed by João Batista de Andrade, the Vietnamese film '' The Abandoned Field: Free ...

. After moving to Spain in 1984, Littin decided to enter Chile clandestinely to make a documentary, "Acta General de Chile" that showed the condition of the country under the Pinochet regime. It was made the subject of

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

's book '' Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin''. This book chronicles his incognito escapades in Chile as he exposes the regime. His four-hour Documentary, "Acta General de Chile," was a big success around the world and won three top prizes at the Venice Film Festival, Fipresci, Spacio Libre del Autore, and the Golden Medal of the Italian Senate. In 1989-90, he made "Sandino" a spectacular European coproduction with Kris Kristofferson, Dean Stockwell, Angela Molina, and Joaquin de Almeida in the lead characters. He eventually returned to Chile where he continued to make films, among them ''

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

'', based on the adventures of explorer

Julius Popper Julius Popper (December 15, 1857 – June 5, 1893), known in Spanish as Julio Popper (), was a Romanian Jew and later Argentinian colonial engineer and explorer. He was known as a modern "conquistador" of Tierra del Fuego in southern South Amer ...

; Cannes Film Festival Official Selection and '' Dawson, Isla 10'', about a group of political prisoners sent to Dawson's Island during Pinochet's regime. Rome Film Festival Official Competition. Miguel Littin was the mayor of his hometown in the central valley, Palmilla, from 1992 to 1994 and was re-elected for the period 1996–2000. His films ''Actas de Marusia'' and ''Alsino and the Condor'' were nominated by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

for Best Film in a Foreign Language. ''Alsino and the Condor'' won the Golden Prize at the

13th Moscow International Film Festival The 13th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 21 July 1983. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Moroccan-Guinea-Senegalese film ''Amok (1983 film), Amok'' directed by Souheil Ben-Barka, the Nicaraguan-Cuban-Mexican-Costa Rican ...

. His 2005 film '' The Last Moon'' was entered into the Seattle Film Festival, L.A. Film Festival,

27th Moscow International Film Festival The 27th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 17 to 26 July 2005. The Golden George was awarded to the Russian film '' Dreaming of Space'' directed by Alexei Uchitel. Jury * Valentin Chernykh (Russia – Head of the Jury) * Nicol ...

Filmography

* 1969: '' El Chacal de Nahueltoro'' (''Jackal of Nahueltoro'') * 1971: ''Compañero Presidente'' (Documentary) * 1973: '' La Tierra Prometida'' (''The Promised Land'') * 1974: ''Actas de Marusia'' ('' Letters from Marusia'') * 1978: '' El Recurso del método'' (''Long Live the President'') * 1980: '' La Viuda de Montiel'' (''The Widow of Montiel'') * 1981: ''Alsino y el Condor'' ('' Alsino and the Condor'') * 1986: '' Acta General de Chile'' (Documentary) * 1990: '' Sandino'' * 1994: '' Los náufragos'' * 2000: ''

'' * 2002: ''Los Caminos de la Ira; Cronicas Palestinas'' (''Palestinian Chronicles'') (Documentary) * 2002: ''El Abanderado'' * 2005: '' La Ultima Luna'' (''The Last Moon'') * 2009: '' Dawson, Isla 10'' * 2014: '' Allende en su Laberinto'' (''Allende in his Maze'')

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Littin, Miguel 1942 births Ariel Award winners Best Director Ariel Award winners Living people People from Colchagua Province Members of the Chilean Constitutional Council Chilean people of Palestinian descent Chilean film directors Chilean screenwriters Chilean male screenwriters Chilean people of Greek descent Instituto Regional Federico Errázuriz alumni University of Chile alumni Mayors of places in Chile