The Pearl Button 12A

Beautiful, haunting and tinged with melancholy, Patricio Guzmán’s The Pearl Button is the captivating follow up to Nostalgia for the Light. Another fascinating journey through Chile’s troubled past, the film traces as far back as 3000 years, delving into an ocean of lost souls, forgotten tribes and political prisoners.
Embedded in the vast, stunning expanse of the Patagonian Archipelago is the deeply affecting history of the Kawéskars, the indigenous people who paddled its waters. The story begins with Jemmy Button, a native of Tierra del Fuego who, in 1830, was taken to England to be ‘civilised’. He agreed to go in exchange for the mother of pearl button that gave him his English name. Jeremy’s story of devastation and the brutality of humanity is just one of many. Through the careful examination of earthly elements, Guzmán recovers and reclaims Chile’s forgotten people, and their remarkable, individual stories and folklore.

"His work speaks to the past and present, the living and the dead with equal resolve... Grows in magnitude and importance with each passing day.” - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Little White Lies