Patricio Guzmán

Biography

Patricio Guzmán Lozanes (August 11, 1941 – September 15, 2026) was a Chilean documentary and feature film director, and screenwriter. He is most known for his film trilogy The Battle of Chile (1975–1979) and more recently for another trilogy; Nostalgia for the Light (2010), The Pearl Button (2015) and The Cordillera of Dreams (2019).

Guzmán also taught documentary film classes in Europe and Latin America, and was the founder and director of the International Documentary Festival of Santiago (FIDOCS). He lived in France. His 1983 film The Compass Rose was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival. His 2015 film The Pearl Button screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. He received a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay for his 2010 film Nostalgia for the Light. Guzmán died from cardiorespiratory arrest on September 15, 2026, at a hospital in Paris. He was 85.