«The Life That Is to Come»: Hopeful Documentary Showcases Unseen Footage of Social Movements in Chile

Original article: «La vida que vendrá»: Esperanzador documental muestra registros nunca antes vistos sobre los movimientos sociales en Chile

Following its international premiere at the 32nd Valdivia International Film Festival, Miradoc Estrenos will distribute The Life That Is to Come (2025) across the country. This enlightening and hopeful documentary is written and directed by Chilean filmmaker Karin Cuyul, known for The Story of My Name (2019).

This audiovisual work compiles valuable and previously unseen archival footage of the most massive and remembered collective protests in the last fifty years of national history.

Produced by Pequén Producciones (Chile) and Invasión Cine (Colombia), the film features never-before-seen color footage to reinterpret social movements, breaking away from the traditional “black and white” aesthetic of audiovisual memory to offer a clear perspective on complex processes often remembered pessimistically.

“I was shocked to discover that this colorful memory existed and was so little known,” confesses Karin Cuyul, the film’s director.

“At first, I was angry to think it was a deliberate decision to omit the brightness of our national visual history. However, I transformed that initial anger into one of the first decisions of the film: it would be entirely in color. And that’s what this film proposes: to turn around our frustrations and contend for spaces of memory,” added the filmmaker.

Through audiovisual archives collected both in Chile and abroad, the film brings together amateur recordings, official archives, and unfinished memories of a country whose political history seems marked by uproar, disenchantment, and the ongoing urge to document these spaces of collective fervor in a socio-political present where parallels and nuances with our past are inevitable.

Notable events included are the exhumation of Salvador Allende’s remains—followed by his state funeral—and multiple recordings depicting the everyday life during the dictatorship and popular resistance, up to more recent events like Pinochet’s death and the Social Outburst.

Additionally, part of the material salvaged for the film comes from the Heritage Archive of the University of Santiago, which was hidden from the coup until the early 2000s.

This also includes images from the National Stadium, preserved by the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE), recorded by a clandestine correspondent during the early days of the civic-military dictatorship; experimental footage from the Grupo Proceso, courtesy of the National Cinematheque of Chile; and anonymous recordings with propaganda supporting the dictatorship, which are safeguarded by the University of La Frontera (UFRO).

“Today, there is a different context compared to when I was making the film, and sadly, a confirmation of many questions posed by the film. Given that, I think that just as the title suggests, The Life That Is to Come, I would like to hold on to the idea of dreaming the country we want,” expressed the documentary’s director.

“I hope that when people finish watching the film, they are left reflecting on how we are not so far from the history that preceded us, that there were brave people willing to fight for the future of our country under much more painful conditions than today, and that their example serves as an impetus in the present,” said Karin Cuyul.

«Reflections on Disenchantment»

After being showcased at major national festivals like FICValdivia, FIDOCS, and FICViña, and its participation in the International Documentary Festival of Montreal (RIDM) in the Against the Grain section, The Life That Is to Come has received praise from critics, being highlighted as “a reflection on the disenchantment that—barring occasional ruptures—has marked Chile’s political history over the last half-century and how to recover a certain idealism and the strength to drive collective projects” (Diego Battle, Otros Cines).

Now, thanks to the Miradoc Estrenos distribution program, the film will be available in theaters and independent venues from Arica to Punta Arenas starting May 7, 2026. Watch the trailer below:

The Citizen