8 Best Movies from Chile to Watch First

8 Essential Films from Chile

Ranked native cinema in Chile’s own creative voice.

1. 

   1. Machuca

   2004

   In Santiago during the turbulent final months of Salvador Allende's government, a boy from a well-off family and a poor boy bused into his elite Catholic school forge a friendship across class lines — just as the country lurches toward the 1973 coup. A poignant coming-of-age drama.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: A Chilean drama about class, school, and the lead-up to the 1973 coup.

2. 

   2. The Mole Agent

   El agente topo · 2020

   A private investigator hired to check on a woman's mother recruits a courtly 83-year-old widower to go undercover as a resident of her Chilean nursing home. His gentle spying turns into something unexpectedly moving. A charming, bittersweet documentary.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: When a daughter becomes concerned about her mother's well-being in a retirement home, private investigator Romulo hires Sergio, an 83-year-old man who becomes a new resident—and a mole inside the home, who struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives of several residents.

3. 

   3. Gloria

   2013

   A vivacious 58-year-old divorcée refusing to fade quietly into old age throws herself into Santiago's singles scene and a fraught new romance. Sebastián Lelio's warm, clear-eyed portrait of a woman reclaiming her life.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: Sebastian Lelio's Chilean Spanish-language drama about middle age and desire in Santiago.

4. 

   4. The Dance of Reality

   La danza de la realidad · 2013

   Alejandro Jodorowsky reimagines his own childhood in a Chilean coastal town, filtering memories of his domineering father and mystical mother through surreal, autobiographical fantasy. A vivid, deeply personal spectacle.

5. 

   5. The Eternal Memory

   La memoria infinita · 2023

   A celebrated Chilean cultural journalist and his wife, an actress, face the slow advance of his Alzheimer's after twenty-five years together, clinging to love and memory as he begins to slip away. A tender, intimate documentary.

6. 

   6. The Wolf House

   La casa lobo · 2018

   After fleeing a German religious colony in Chile, a young woman takes refuge in a house with two pigs, where the very walls and objects shift and morph around her feelings. A hypnotic, nightmarish stop-motion fable inspired by Colonia Dignidad.

7. 

   7. The Settlers

   Los colonos · 2023

   In early-20th-century Patagonia, a wealthy landowner hires three riders to clear a path across his vast estate to the sea, unleashing brutal atrocities against the Indigenous Selk'nam people who stand in the way. A striking revisionist Western.

8. 

   8. Nobody Knows I'm Here

   Nadie sabe que estoy aquí · 2020

   A reclusive man with a glorious singing voice hides away on a remote Chilean sheep farm, brooding over an old betrayal, until the outside world threatens to discover his gift. A melancholy, offbeat drama.