‘What Remains in the Body’: Mate Alberdi on ‘Eternal Memory’.

Oscar nominee and Sundance alum Mayte Alberdi (with a surprisingly light-hearted 2020 Agent The Mole., which followed a lovable octogenarian with no private investigation skills on an undercover mission to uncover elder abuse at a retirement home) returned to Park City this year with a much different sequel. While Eternal memory similarly concerned with both the joys and indignities of aging, Alberdi trains his lens this time on a dynamic duo who have been together for a quarter of a century, much of it in the media spotlight. Paulina Urrutia was (and still is) an actor and former minister of state, while Augusto Gongora was one of Chile’s most famous television personalities. A fearless cultural commentator, he had the audacity to highlight the brutalities of the Pinochet regime and, after its fall, build an “archive of memory” so that his countrymen would never forget. The ironic tragedy is that Augusto had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s almost a decade earlier, which is where Alberdi picks up the baton and the camera – following the still madly in love couple on their daily journey into confusing territory.

A few days after Eternal memoryThe debut of the World Documentary Film Competition on January 21, Film director caught up with the first Chilean Oscar nominee to learn all about this latest (Pablo Laraine-produced) project.

director: So how did this movie come about? Is it somehow related to Agent The Mole.?

Albert: This project arose when one day I met Augusto and Paulina in a work context. I was fascinated by how she incorporated it into her work with complete normalcy and love. Their relationship surprised me and that’s when I started spending time with them.

Along the way I discovered the nuances of this story – which at first was just about how you live and love despite loss and what’s left in the body. But what remained in the body was a loving conscience and a historical conscience. Grief and feelings remain in the body, even with memory loss. So I discovered that this story unites political memory with personal memory: that of a country and the everyday.

director: I’m very curious to hear how you navigated the consent issue. I assume you discussed his wishes with Augusto before filming, but at what point in his decline did such conversations take place? How did you ensure that he was always an active part of the collaboration?

Albert: My first approach to them was five years ago, a year before the first scenes of the film. Augusto understood the conversations perfectly and was aware of his reality. It was Augusto himself who convinced Paulina to make this film. When I spoke to them about a documentary, she had questions; and he told us, “I have no problem showing my fragility. I’ve done so many documentaries – why wouldn’t I want to be filmed in this situation?’

He was always aware of the presence of the camera and their mutual decision was to continue filming when we could no longer do so due to COVID. Paulina, Augusto’s children, and Augusto himself decide to make this record; they all feel very comfortable and proud of the result. It’s almost like a living breathing lexicon of Augusto. Augusto tries to capture pain and fragility throughout his life and boldly shows the hidden reality of the country. Paulina says that making this film was an act of extraordinary consistency because he bravely agreed to film his fragility as he believes there should always be a record of things. He lived his life creating this record.

director: What kinds of boundaries were ultimately put in place? What was off-camera?

Albert: I think the main boundary issue for Paulina and I was how and when to stop filming, and the day we had to stop was very clear to us. She says that in their lives and in the film, she is a vehicle for Augusto to express what he wants to communicate. When we felt that he was no longer communicating, we decided to end the shoot.

director: How has COVID affected production?

Albert: In Chile, the lockdown was very long and we had to stop our two-year filming process. So we decided to send Paulina a camera and from that moment on it was a film where different materials coexisted; Paulina’s record, Augusto’s and mine. I don’t think I could ever get Paulina’s recording with my own camera because I wouldn’t be there that late at night, making it a deep recording of the situations they go through. More than anything, COVID was harmful to Augusto’s health because he quickly deteriorated after being socially isolated.

director: How do your characters feel about the final film? Can Augusto even weigh in?

Albert: Augusto is now terminally ill and bedridden, unable to move or speak, so he cannot watch the film. Paulina and Augusto’s sons have seen the film and consider it Augusto’s best legacy. They can see his identity in him, his obsessions, even in the late stages of his condition, and they think this is the best record of a grandfather they can show their children. They were both excited and proud.