Film Screening and Q&A: Chileans of the North

RSC Public Seminar Series, Hilary term 2025

Series convened by Professor Tom Scott-Smith and Professor Catherine Briddick

About the film

On 11 September 1973 a violent coup in Chile overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. What followed was nearly 17 years of repression in which the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet transformed the country. More than 2,000 Chilean exiles came to the UK, aided by a network that included the Chile Solidarity Campaign, Trade Unions and the World University Service.

Chileans of the North explores the story of the refugees who made a new home in South Yorkshire. The participants share what happened at the time of the coup and its aftermath, what it was like to start a new life in the UK, and how activism and solidarity brought a community together. Told through first-hand stories, archive material and music, it’s a story that spans two continents and 50 years.

About the speakers

Ben Bollig is Professor of Latin American Literature and Film at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Catherine’s College. His recent books include Moving Verses: Poetry on Screen in Argentine Cinema and, with Mark Leech, a translation and edition of Sergio Raimondi’s Selected Poems. He is currently editing, with Jorge Locane, The Routledge Companion to Twenty-First Century Latin American Poetry, and writing a book on tenderness in Latin American literature and film. 

Helia López Zarzosa is a PhD Chilean sociologist and independent researcher. Her lectureship at the University of Chile was curtailed by the Pinochet dictatorship. She was a refugee in Britain (1976-1992) and is now a failed returnee (since 1995).

Her exilic, returnee and failed returnee life has been dedicated to the education and empowerment of Chilean and Latin American refugee and migrant children in Chile Democrático-G.B (1982-1988) and later at an educational and drama workshop (LATCHTCO, 1989-1991). During her return, she worked with the children of returnee families (PIDEE-ONR, 1992) and taught Sociology of Education. Out of her pedagogical experiences she wrote an MA thesis and a monograph (FASIC, 1995). Her failed voluntary repatriation was explored in her PhD thesis (2011). She is currently writing articles on the Chilean exile experience.

Chris Paul has an MA Latin American Studies from the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, where he focussed on politics, media and migration. He specialises in film and audio pieces on oral history and migration. He has written articles and produced multimedia work for the Migration Museum, Latin America Bureau, and Sounds & Colours.

The film showing will be followed by a Q&A.

https://linktr.ee/chileansofthenorth

The seminar will be followed by drinks in the Hall.

Registration not required.

All enquiries should be directed to rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk.