I Wonder What You Will Remember of September

A film by Cecilia Cornejo

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SYNOPSIS

Cecilia Cornejo presents a haunting personal response to the events of September 11, 2001, informed and complicated by her status as a Chilean citizen living in the U.S. With evocative imagery from both past and present, Cornejo weaves together her own fading childhood memories, her parents vivid recollections of the September 11, 1973 coup in Chile that brought the notorious dictator Augusto Pinochet to power; and post-9/11 conversations with her own young daughter. The resulting montage thoughtfully explores how personal and collective histories intersect, as well as how trauma is lived, supposedly erased, and passed on from one generation to the next.

The filmmaker also alludes to what she believes is a deep contradiction within the American consciousness, one that makes it possible to view the 9/11/01 attacks as tragedy, while failing to interpret “outside” events such as the Chilean coup or the invasion of Iraq as such. Cornejo’s mesmerizing experimental film provides a striking new context with which to view the World Trade Center attacks— from the point of view of an immigrant whose home country has endured its own tragedies.

PRESS

“A poetic essay on the nature of historical rapture and its effect on the individual…”

Daniel Eisenberg Chair, Film/ Video and New Media, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

"Highly recommended as a complimentary item to documentaries about the military coup against President Allende and the resulting government of General Augusto Pinochet."

Rafael Ocasio Criticas

“With intelligence and a gentle lyrical grace, national identities, borders, and familial relationships are negotiated through the lived memories of another September 11: the 1973 Chilean (Allende/Pinochet) coup.”

Camille Seaman Dept of Communication Studies, University of Iowa

“A graceful haunting work…”

Christian Keathley Film & Media Culture, Middlebury College

“Beautifully intertwines past and present; emigrants and immigrants; us and them to reinstall memory and remind us there was another September 11: that of Chile, 1973.”

Juana Suarez University of North Carolina, Greensboro

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

LASA Award of Merit in Film

Women in the Director's Chair
CineFestival en San Antonio
Puerto Vallarta Film Festival
Camden International Film Festival
International Latino Film Festival, San Francisco
InVideo, Festival of Video Art and Cinema, Milan
L’alternativa, Festival de Cine Independiente de Barcelona
FIDOCS, Festival Internacional de Documentales de Santiago, Chile
1588 Minutes de Cinéma Chilien Documentaire, Paris
MoMA Documentary Fortnight
Gene Siskel Film Center
Barbados International Film and Video Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Cecilia Cornejo

Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo is a documentary filmmaker, artist, and educator engaging rural communities in southern Minnesota in a multilayered exploration of home and belonging. Locally rooted yet globally minded, her work examines notions of belonging and the immigrant experience while exploring the traces of historical trauma on people and places.

An inaugural recipient of the 2020 McKnight Fellowship for Community-Engaged Artists, Cecilia’s work has received support from multiple organizations, including the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the Jerome Foundation. Her film work has shown at venues such as MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight, the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, Cine las Americas (Texas), L’Alternativa (Spain), InVideo (Italy), Melbourne Latin American Film Festival (Australia), Puerto Vallarta International Film Festival (Mexico) and Festival de Cine Pobre (Cuba). (09/21)

Subject Areas

Cinema Studies Experimental Film Human Rights Immigration and Exile Latin America Latina Terrorism War

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