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Los Bunkers Board ‘The Last Witness’ Film on Photographer Luis Poirot
Chile’s Los Bunkers, one of the most admired rock bands from Latin America, has signed on to score “The Last Witness” (“El Ultimo Testigo”). This documentary highlights the work of Luis Poirot, a Chilean photographer renowned for capturing pivotal moments and figures in the nation’s history, from Salvador Allende to the 2019 social protests and beyond.
Some of Poirot’s earliest black-and-white photos include images of Allende during his successful 1959 presidential campaign, where Poirot served as the official photographer. Poirot also managed to take illicit photos of Chile’s presidential Palacio de la Moneda just days after Allende’s death in a military coup, the windows shattered by Chilean Air Force strafing. Notably, he also captured Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda at his beachside home in Isla Negra.
Directed by Catalan documentarian-journalist Francesc Relea, known for “Serrat y Sabina: el símbolo y el cuate,” “The Last Witness” depicts Poirot photographing bestselling novelist Isabel Allende, filmmaker Pablo Larraín, actor-theatre director Alfredo Castro, and Catalan singer-composer Joan Manuel Serrat. These interactions are supplemented with voiceovers reflecting their sentiments about Poirot.
As the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup d’état was commemorated, images from Poirot’s photographs of a strafed Casa de la Moneda were projected onto the building’s restored facade. Poirot’s enduring reaction to history remained visible: he took another photo.
For decades, Chilean cinema has grappled with portraying the tumultuous legacy left by Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1989 dictatorship and the ongoing struggle to preserve the country’s historical memory. Poirot’s drive to document these memories through photography is palpable.
“I’ve been obsessed with memory, that we shouldn’t forget things. That’s why I became a photographer,” Poirot remarks in the documentary. In “The Last Witness,” he reveals his unpublished photo archive for the first time.
Poirot’s connection extends to Los Bunkers, who are captured in the documentary performing the rock anthem “Miño” during the Estallido. This bond links them to Victor Jara, the influential protest singer who was arrested, tortured, and executed by Pinochet’s security forces, a memory immortalized through Poirot’s lens.
Poirot shares a personal history with Jara, evident in photos capturing Jara laughing in a park. Los Bunkers have kept Jara’s spirit alive by singing his songs. In a conversation with Isabel Allende, Poirot expresses, “No death is justified, but Victor’s I do not forget and do not forgive.”
Currently in its final editing stages before post-production, “The Last Witness” is produced by Chile’s Villano and Spain’s What’s Up Doc. The documentary was co-financed by Relea, who also utilized crowdfunding. Producers include Juan Pablo Sallato, Ismael Larraín, Juan Ignacio Sabatini, and Isabel Jubert.
“‘The Last Witness’ is a review of the trajectory of a symbol of Chilean and Latin American photography and a tribute to a style of work. As a journalist, I met Luis Poirot in the ’90s, and we worked together on several projects,” Relea shared. “As a director, I want to show the story of a great photographer who has witnessed firsthand some of the most important events of the past 50 years in Chile and Spain,” he added.
Founded in 2009, Villano produces TV series, such as the celebrated procedural “The Hunt,” films like “Kill Pinochet,” and documentary features. Villano producer Sallato mentioned, “I am convinced that our passion for creating films and series is driven by a profound desire to tell compelling stories that leave a lasting impact.”
Source: Various sources
