"Patricio Guzmán's heartbreaking probe of Chile's revolution, the Pinochet coup, and the long entangled aftermath will be considered in centuries to come one of the most eloquent and daring explorations of revolution and repression, hope and memory, to survive our sorry times. What Guzmán passionately and clinicly observes in Chile is valid for the whole world."—Ariel Dorfman

Patricio Guzmán was born in 1941 in Santiago, Chile. As an adolescent in the late 1950's he became drawn to documentary filmmaking when he had the opportunity to see some of the films of Chris Marker, Frederic Rossif and Louis Malle.

He studied filmmaking at the Film Institute at the Catholic University of Chile and thereafter at the Official School of Film in Madrid, where he obtained his degree in Film Direction in 1970.

When he returned to Chile, in 1971, he directed his first documentary, The First Year (which covered the first 12 months of Salvador Allende's government), which was shown in commercial theaters that very year. The French documentary filmmaker Chris Marker, who was passing through Chile at the time, happened to see the film and offered to help screen it in France.

Two years later, Chris Marker provided invaluable assistance again when he donated the raw stock necessary to commence filming The Battle of Chile (a 4 and ½ hour documentary trilogy about Allende's final year). Filming on this project continued until the very day of the coup d'etat.

The day of the coup, Guzmán was imprisoned in Chile's National Stadium, where he remained for 15 days. Later, after regaining his freedom, he left for Europe with his film canisters in tow. Once there he began, with the help of Chris Marker, to find the economic means to complete the film.

This time, saving grace came from the Cuban Film Institute - the ICAIC - which offered to support the editing and post-production. Guzmán flew to Havana and finished the film a few years later.

The Battle of Chile won 6 Grand Prizes in Europe and Latin America. It was shown in commercial theaters in 35 countries. The film magazine Cineaste declared it as "One of the ten best political films in the world."

Later, Guzmán continued to make documentaries (in France and Spain), many of them focusing on Chilean concerns.

In 1987 he made In God's Name (Grand Prize, Florence '87) about the Catholic Church's fight for human rights in Chile. From 1990 to 1992 he worked on The Southern Cross (Grand Prize, Marseille '92) about the theology of liberation and popular religion in Latin America. In 1995, Town in Stasis focused on the historical memory of a Mexican village.

In 1997, Chile, Obstinate Memory looked into collective political amnesia in Chile. 1999 brought Robinson Crusoe Island about the remote Chilean island of the same name. The Pinochet Case in 2001, examined the case brought against General Augusto Pinochet (Grand Prize, Marseille '01).

In 2002, he completed Madrid, a look at Spain's capital.

Most recently he made Salvador Allende, which First Run/Icarus Films released in September 2006. This acclaimed, award-winning film tells Allende's story, from his youth in Valparaiso and his early presidential campaigns, to his bold nationalist reforms and his death during the violent rightist coup of September 11, 1973.

Currently, Guzmán has been a professor of documentary film at various schools in Europe and Latin America. He has also been a jury member in many acclaimed festivals in his field. Since 1997, he has been the Director of the Santiago Documentary Film Festival, which was founded with the help of a group of young filmmakers.

Patricio Guzmán lives in Paris with Renate Sachse, who collaborates on the scripts for his films. He has two daughters, Andrea and Camila, who are also filmmakers and frequently work on his projects.