Andrés Wood

Born in 1965 in Santiago de Chile. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in Economics from the Universidad Católica de Chile. In 1990-1991 he studied film at New York University. In 1992 he directed and edited his first short film, IDILIO. Two years later, he made another short film, REUNIÓN DE FAMILIA. In 1997 he directed his first feature film, HISTORIAS DE FÚTBOL, which won the award for Best Director at the Huelva Film Festival and Special Honorable Mention for Best Debut Director at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Later on, he directed and co-writed a tv mini-series, EL DESQUITE (1998), and another feature film, LA FIEBRE DEL LOCO (2001). MACHUCA is his third feature film.

Director's statement

“It seemed to me that it was absolutely essential to make this film, because no one had examined the loss of democracy in Chile from this perspective before. Here, it is the children who look at the world, without judging what they see. They witness the events that took place. We literally experience everything through their eyes. It is they who give us the fragmented information we receive about the educational experiment, their families and the country. It is the first film about this period made by a director who lived through the dictatorship in Chile. In MACHUCA, I have addressed that period with melancholy but also with enthusiasm, the enthusiasm of two 11 year old boys who discover inner and outer worlds where they can finally be themselves”.