Alfonso Gazitúa Gaete
Alfonso Gazitua was born in Santiago, Chile in 1965. He studied Cinema in the Instituto Profesional Arcos 1989 – 1994.
With his strong social reference he realized the studies in the audiovisual world as a director and producer in a non tradicional way. Therefore since the begining of his career he started producing not only several short films but also various documentaries and movie pictures showing the different realities of Chile while taking care of describing and maintaining the values and dignity of people living in poverty.
In 1994 he began working as a volonteer with a group of disabled people in the “ Vicaria de la Pastoral Universitaria” of the district San Gregorio and taught them the art of staging. There he was confronted with the magic lovestory of Pedro Vargas which inspired him for his first opera : “ The king of San Gregorio, shot in 2004 which received the highest amount of the FONDART within the same year(allowed by the government of Chile). The preview of “ The king of San Gregorio will be presented at the end of 2005.
He took part in several audiovisual propositions, e.g. “ Allegro”, a short film realized in 1996 and financed by FONDART, and the movie “Quédate Conmigo”, finished in 2002.
Filmography
• 1994: “Fiesta de la Virgen de Candelaria de Caspana”, documentary
• 1995: “Allegro”, short-story 16 mm.
• 1997: “Fundación Nuestra señora de Guadalupe”, documentary
• 1998: “Manos de Mujer”, short-story video digital
• 2000: “Siempre Jóvenes”, documentary
• 2002: “Quédate conmigo”, documentary
El Rey de San Gregorio (2006)
“The King of San Gregorio” is a story about a pure and simple love. The film talks about the life of Pedro Vargas – who plays himself – a 30 years-old man living in the slum of San Gregorio and presents a physical handicap and a certain grade of mental disability. Nevertheless, none of these factors will stop him from being the protagonist of this beautiful love story with his “princess” Cati, a girl who has a severe mental disability. As any other romantic drama, there are antagonists who do not approve this love. More
