Los durmientes

The films of Enrique Ramírez (born in 1979, lives and works in Paris and Chile) are often set against the backdrop of the sea. They explore travelling, exchanges between peoples of different countries and deal with political and social questions such as emigration (Horizon, Cruzar un muro) or the development of maritime trade in a globalized economy (Ocean). The other recurring theme in his work is the history of Chile, particularly Pinochet’s dictatorship. This theme is evoked in Brises through his childhood memories. Even though they are based on real events, his films are neither documentary nor fiction. The long sequence shots, the voice-overed poetic texts, the monotonous music: everything contributes to creating a dreamlike atmosphere, pulling us into something resembling a vision.

Los durmientes, shown at the Palais de Tokyo, touches on a particularly abominable episode of the Chilean dictatorship: victims—some still alive—were thrown into the sea from helicopters, tied to railway ties. The title, in Spanish, means both sleepers and railway ties. Los durmientes is a video triptych simultaneously presenting three acts and three different temporalities of this story.

Curator: Marie-Thérèse Champesme