"The Mole Agent" to represent Chile in the running for a Goya 2021 nomination

At the residence of Spanish Ambassador to Chile Enrique Ojeda this morning, Cultures and the Arts Undersecretary Juan Carlos Silva and the Chairman of the Chilean Film Academy, Giancarlo Nasi, announced that the film The Mole Agent directed by Maite Alberdi (Tea Time and The Grown-ups) will represent Chile in the running for the 2021 Goya nominations in the category of Best Ibero-American Film.

“I am proud to be part of this race and to contribute to increasing the visibility of Chilean cinema, highlighting social issues and putting them on the agenda in other countries. The Mole Agent is a film that has Spanish producers and distribution. We worked on it with our Spanish team, and we hope to win the nomination,” Alberdi said after the announcement. She added that, “It is an honor to be chosen by the Chilean Academy because it is the entity’s first year and it is key for countries to have academies that represent the audiovisual sector. This is an industry that has seen its international production and projection grow, and this is a milestone.”

The filmmaker, who appeared at the ceremony with producer Marcela Santibáñez, said she was also “honored, because one does not just represent the film. One represents the industry and a cinema that is characterized by growing together, in which there has been respect for the diversity of voices of all directors. It is a diverse cinematography in which international growth for everyone has been achieved together. My own position abroad is the result of my team’s work, of our films. But it is also the result of an industry that has forged a path.”

For his part, Giancarlo Nasi noted that, “We are proud that the young Chilean Film Academy has selected a documentary film directed and produced by women filmmakers that has had a successful international and national run starting with the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Choosing a documentary reflects our tradition in non-fiction film production, and it is important for the Academy to represent the richness of our cinema.”

He added that this vote is “an important step towards greater representation of women in film. As filmmakers, we have sent a clear message regarding our commitment to gender equality and diversity. We have engaged in this work together with the Cultures Ministry, and with the support of CinemaChile we will support the campaign for The Mole Agent with the hope that it will be chosen for the Goya Awards. Maite Alberdi achieved this with Tea Time and now we are all supporting The Mole Agent. The movie theaters may be closed, and financing for audiovisual productions may be in danger, but the voices behind Chilean cinema continue to tirelessly build our cultural heritage.”

“As the Cultures, Arts and Heritage Ministry, we are very pleased with the nomination of The Mole Agent to represent Chile at the next Goya Awards. The film received the support of our Audiovisual Development Fund in the amount of 43 million Chilean pesos (US$55,000). This shows the importance of a tool like the Culture Fund when it is time to promote the creation of Chilean art like Maite Alberdi’s film. Participating in international awards competitions means improving marketing and highlighting the work of the director of the film. We are certain that The Mole Agent is just beginning to travel its path,” said Undersecretary Juan Carlos Silva.

Ambassador Enrique Ojeda expressed his deep satisfaction with the fact that the Embassy was hosting the presentation of the film selected for the Goya Awards for the seventh consecutive year. He noted that the event is “proof of how much unites our countries, our cultures and our cinema.” He added, “Chile always has a presence in festivals and awards ceremonies in Spain with films of enormous quality and personality. (...) Maite Alberdi was nominated for her film Tea Time in 2016 and left an extraordinary mark that will undoubtedly be very much present at this year’s awards.”

It was recently announced that the 35th Goya Awards, which were originally scheduled for February 27, 2021, will take place on March 6 at the Teatro del Soho CaixaBank in Málaga.

The Film

Maite Alberdi returns with her new film, which had its world premiere at Sundance and was chosen for the San Sebastián Festival. The acclaimed documentary The Mole Agent introduces Sergio, an octogenarian amateur detective on an incredible mission inside of a nursing home. The story -which is, incredibly, a true one- tells how the detective’s apprentice infiltrates the facility in order to identify any irregularities in care of his client’s mother. Between entertaining daily life situations and personal conversations with the residents, the detective starts to get involved in the facility’s activities.

The film publication Indiewire described it as “the most heartwarming spy movie ever made.” “Every year Sundance has those one-of-a-kind, indescribable documentaries that are like nothing else. Wry, charming, gently observational, this Chilean doc introduces the world’s oldest undercover agent,” says the L.A. Times. “Funny, poignant and finely crafted. A refreshing and beautifully made documentary. Moving. Structured with a brilliant eye for narrative development and telling character detail,” states The Hollywood Reporter. “The residents don’t need James Bond.  They need a friend,” notes Variety. 

About the Academy

The Chilean Film Academy was created on July 15, 2018. It currently has nearly 200 members from various areas in the audiovisual field. There are producers, post-production professionals, make-up artists, costumers, directors, animators, editors, screenwriters, actors and actresses, art directors, photography directors, sound engineers, composers, special effects experts and more. This is the first year that the Academy will be responsible for choosing the Chilean films that will represent the country at Spanish awards ceremonies as well as at the Ariels and the Oscars.

Most Latin American countries have film academies. In early 2017, the academies of Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Portugal, Paraguay, Ecuador and Venezuela created the Ibero-American Federation of Film Academies (FIACINE), which Chile joined once it officially created its national entity.

Chile at San Sebastián

Chile will participate in the San Sebastián Film Festival through Saturday, September 26 with four official selections, three development projects in industry spaces and a delegation of over 15 film producers. Maite Alberdi leads the delegation with The Mole Agent in the Perlak section, which brings together the year’s most award-winning and critically acclaimed films.

It will be joined by Night Shot in Latino Horizons. Carolina Moscoso’s first film uses a video diary format to explore the wounds caused by rape. The same section will host the world premiere of La Verónica by Leo Medel, a fictional piece starring Mariana di Girolamo (Ema) who plays a popular social media model accused of killing her daughter. Dominga Sotomayor returns to the screen with Spanish director Carla Simón in Correspondence, a contender in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section. The film is comprised of letters that Sotomayor and Simón exchanged during the pandemic.

The hybrid format will allow a delegation of 13 Chilean film companies to participate in this professional space both in person and online. All of them will receive support from CinemaChile, a sectorial brand created by ProChile to promote new national projects and talent from producers such as Rizoma, 17 Producciones, Carnada Films, Brisa Films and others supported by the Cultures Ministry.