Besieged Land

María Teresa Larraín

In southern Chile, a powerful landowner and a respected Mapuche chief dispute contested lands. When the indigenous leader is accused and tried for setting fire to the landowner's house, his case becomes emblematic of two antithetical visions of the world, fueled by a multinational timber company's desire to exploit the land.

Biography

María Teresa Larraín studied law and drama in her native Chile. She moved to Canada where she studied Radio and Film Arts, and where she has been working as an independent filmmaker since 1988. She was selected to participate in directing and editing workshops at the Canadian Film Center, the Documentary Studio in Toronto and at the Sundance Institute in the U.S. in 2006 and 2007. She is currently working on a new film, Going Blind, a feature documentary on blindness told from the point of view of the blind.