Patricio Guzmán Campos

Photographer Patricio Guzmán Campos has died in exile. Silvia edited his retrospective book a few years ago and after learning about Patricio's death, she sits down to read again the letters he sent her, in which he reveals the feelings and reflections provoked by facing his photography during the process of making the book, where he sees a place that has been taken away from him, but which he tries to hold on to through his memories.

In 1962 Joris Ivens was invited to Chile for teaching and filmmaking. Together with students he made …A Valparaíso, one of his most poetic films. Contrasting the prestigious history of the seaport with the present the film sketches a portrait of the city, built on 42 hills, with its wealth and poverty, its daily life on the streets, the stairs, the rack railways and in the bars. Although the port has lost its importance, the rich past is still present in the impoverished city. The film echoes this ambiguous situation in its dialectical poetic style, interweaving the daily life reality (of 1963) with the history of the city and changing from black and white to colour, finally leaving us with hopeful perspective for the children who are playing on the stairs and hills of this beautiful town.

Shot alongside "À Valparaíso," "The Small Tent" observes a small circus performance perched high above the city and focuses on the faces and reactions of the children in its audience. The film offers a tender, poetic look at fleeting joy and communal spectacle.