It was just before the first table read of the screenplay that Carmen Aguirre was introduced to us and cast as Constanza. She has brought an authenticity to the character that influenced the script’s development, and her wonderful, strong, performance drives the finished film.
Carmen, like Constanza in the film, is a refugee who fled Chile after Pinochet’s CIA backed coup. Fortunately, Carmen’s mother was not one of the disappeared, but remains alive among us. In fact, it was Carmen’s mother who connected us to the director Patricio Guzman, as we sought footage from his masterpiece, The Battle of Chile, to help represent Constanza’s inner journey. I consider it an honour to have worked with his historical footage.
(photo by Sergio Vera-Barahona, left to right – Carolyn Comb, Carmen Aguirre, Andrew Forbes)