Santiago, Chile and Doha, Qatar: Years of Culture hosted a free film festival at Centro Cultural La Moneda (CCLM) in Santiago, Chile, as part of the programme surrounding “Your Ghosts Are Mine: Expanded Cinemas, Amplified Voices.”
Presented as part of the legacy of the Qatar, Argentina and Chile 2025 Year of Culture, the festival expanded the exhibition’s cinematic universe onto the big screen. It gave audiences the opportunity to experience complete films by filmmakers represented within its curatorial narrative, placing cinema and younger generations at the heart of the continuing cultural exchange between Qatar and Chile.
The programme featured internationally acclaimed films, including “The Mother of All Lies” by Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir; “It Must Be Heaven” by Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman; “Harka,” the debut feature by Lotfy Nathan; and “143 Sahara Street” by Algerian filmmaker Hassen Ferhani. It also included “Faya Dayi” by Jessica Beshir; “The Lebanese Rocket Society” by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige; and “Zanj Revolution” by Tariq Teguia, which contains the line of dialogue that inspired the exhibition’s title.
Youth, migration and the future
A key event within the weekend’s festival was a panel discussion titled “Echoes Across the Distance: Youth, Migration and the Future,” organised with CCLM’s Youth Voices Committee. The conversation explored migration, identity, belonging and the future through the perspectives of younger generations.
Moderated by cultural content creator Patricia Mardones, the event featured Valeria Núñez of CCLM’s Youth Voices Committee, Julieta Flores of STEM Tremendas and Efraín Chaparro of CEINA’s Young Programmers Committee.
Alejandra Valenzuela, Executive Director of CCLM, said, “At Centro Cultural La Moneda, we want exhibitions to also become spaces for encounter and conversation. This film series expands the experience of ‘Your Ghosts Are Mine’, bringing audiences closer to films and perspectives that are not often part of mainstream circuits, while also creating opportunities for these stories to engage with our own realities. The youth dialogue is particularly valuable because it invites younger generations to take an active role in the conversation and reflect, through their own experiences, on identity, migration, belonging and the future.”
An exhibition that continues to grow
The film series formed part of the public programming associated with “Your Ghosts Are Mine,” an immersive exhibition featuring more than 40 film excerpts and installations by artists and filmmakers from the Arab world, Africa and Southeast Asia. First presented in Venice in 2024 and later at Mathaf in Doha, it made its Latin American debut in Santiago in August.
The exhibition is produced by Qatar Museums and co-organised with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha Film Institute and the future Art Mill Museum, in collaboration with Chile’s Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, and presented at Centro Cultural La Moneda.
The programme reflects Years of Culture’s commitment to building relationships that extend beyond a single year, generating new projects, exchanges and opportunities for connection between Qatar, Chile and wider international audiences.
