Memoria desierta / Deserted Memory
Documentary. Niles Atallah: Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Producer, Image Post-Production and Colorist. Sound Recordist: Will Sherman. About Chacabuco, the former detention camp and abandoned nitrate-mining town in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Shot in digital video and Super 8, with 35mm still photography. Subjects include former political prisoners Rolando Carrasco and Santiago Cavieres, and Chacabuco preservation figures Roberto Saldívar and Pedro Barreda. Filmed 23–27 May 2006.
Selected festivals and screenings
2006 11 November — Chacabucanos reunion, Santiago, Chile — First community screening; two consecutive presentations for former Chacabuco political prisoners and their families.
2006 1 December — Desert Nights: Tales from the Desert, Casa del Cinema, Rome, Italy — International festival premiere; UNCCD festival, with Niles Atallah present for the screening.
2007 25 January — Red Poppy Art House, San Francisco, United States — First public United States screening.
2007 CineMas Albuquerque Latino Film Festival, New Mexico, United States — “Behind Bars” programme; 18 February, Guild Cinema.
2007 Cineteca Nacional / Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda, Santiago, Chile — Screening on 28 June at 17:00.
2008 Discovering Latin America Film Festival, London, United Kingdom — Festival screening.
Caminando en círculos / Walking in Circles
Experimental nonfiction video diary / medium-length work. Niles Atallah: Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Sound, Image Post-Production and Colorist. Chronicles travel through Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Journey South
Documentary short. Niles Atallah: Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Sound, Image Post-Production and Colorist. About blues Musicians in the southern United States, shot on digital video.
Support
2000 Kresge College, University of California, Santa Cruz — Student Project Fund.
2000 University of California, Santa Cruz — President’s Undergraduate Fellowship.