People of Chile – American Indian Film Gathering

Film Details

Title: People of Chile
Year: 1947
Duration: 0:20:48
Director: Clifford J. Kamen
Writer: Grace L. Soderlund credited as educational collaborator
Producer: Hollywood Film Enterprises, Inc.
Narrator: Unnamed male narrator, refers to himself once in the film: upon being invited into Carl Neumann’s mansion/farm house in Valdivia.
Establishing Shot: Opens with a map of Chile accompanied by a voiceover that declares, “It is hard to imagine a country with a shape as peculiar as this; yet, there is one.” Proceeds to compare Chile with the United States by laying map of Chile over that of U.S. First live action shot is a medium shot of a woman (Kawesqar?) bobbing on the water in a watercraft (a canoe?), looking off screen right. Shot is accompanied by voiceover: “Dark-skinned Indians whose ancestors lived here before the white man."
Major Themes: The demography and geography, cultures and customs, history and colonization, economy and politics of Chile, including these practically-extinct oceanic people as of 1947.
Native Languages Spoken: None