El Espino Films

Eight years after having been raped at a beach near Santiago, a young filmmaker tells the story of the assault, the revictimizing judicial processes, and the friendship that helps her heal, in dozens of video-diary entries that comprise an artfully crafted, intimate documentary. A question remains: What is a rape, really, and when does it end?

While trying to explain to her seven-year-old son what it was like to grow up in Chile under the civil-military dictatorship, a mother is confronted with her own memories and the need to revisit her past. After almost twenty years living in Spain, she decides to find women who, like her, were born and spent their early years under the Chilean dictatorship. Andrea, Claudia, Alejandra, Daniela, Victoria and Sol gather in a house to share their experiences and explore how that early experience — often fragmented or beyond conscious memory — has left marks that remain present in their lives. In this encounter, the personal and the political intertwine, giving rise to a collective reflection on memory, identity, and the ways in which the past transforms and endures from one generation to another.

Exploring the relationship of his relatives, his city and himself with plants and gardens, the director of this essay traces a playful and personal journey from Viña del Mar to Buenos Aires.