The tragedy of military upheaval as seen from the eyes of the children who live through it, Machuca is set in Chile, 1973. The shy Gonzalo Infante, aged 11, comes from a well-to-do family living in a fashionable neighborhood, but Pedro Machuca is the son of a peasant and lives in a shantytown. These two kids, who have nothing in common, will meet at school - thanks to the initiative of Father MacEnroe, whose aim is to integrate underprivileged students into the posh Catholic school under his direction. He wants to teach respect and tolerance when the political and social climate of Chile is about to change for the worse, but one that sees the two boys embark on several pre-adolescent adventures, including kissing their first girl (Martelli). Meanwhile, the country's political situation is coming to a boil with the US-sponsored coup that plunged the country in to 30 years of horrific injustice. See M-SPIFF film Salvador Allende for more historical background on this period. -AHSAndrés Wood was born 1965, in Chile. After studying economics at the University of Chile he left for New York, where he attended a film course. When he returned to Chile he made his first feature film 'Historias de fútbol' which was a box-office hit. For his third film Wood has drawn from his childhood memories to recreate the darkest chapter of recent Chilean history - the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende’s democratic regime.

	Sponsored by: ST. MARY’S