THE MOVIE TELLER

11 yrs 116 minutes • 2023 • 6.6

In Lone Scherfig's The Movie Teller we find ourselves on the edge of the world map. In a remote village in the middle of Chile's merciless Atacama-desert, young Maria lives with her parents and three brothers. The family struggle to make ends meet, and daily life offers little joy. There is still a light in this poor existence. A place where magic resides. The local cinema. 

But following an explosion in the local mine that changes the life of the family, they can only afford to send one family member to the cinema. Maria reveals herself as a talented teller of stories, and is therefore granted the task of watching the films and recounting them to her family. 

The Movie Teller is a beautiful and ambitious time frame of Chile in the 60s and 70s, and a tribute to the magic of movies and their ability to bring poeple together and give hope. The movie is based on the novel by the same name, written by Hernán Rivera Letelier.