Nostalgia for the Light: Participants
Victoria and Violeta, the women who search for their loved ones
Pinochet's dictatorship killed their relatives and buried their corpses beneath the desert sand. Since then only some human bones have been found. They have now been turning over the desert earth for 28 years with their shovels: they have never given up on their search. They will continue until their very last breath. They are dignified and beautiful.
Lautaro, the experienced archaeologist
He knows the desert like the back of his hand. His eyes are those of a lynx and can guess what is hidden beneath the ground. He has found mummies that are a thousand years old, sleeping deep in the ground. He knows how to talk to them. Deeply affected by the tragedy of the disappeared, he passed on his digging experience to the women who look for their loved ones. He showed them how to observe each grain of sand to detect whether, under the surface, there might be a human body.
Gaspar, the young astronomer
Gaspar was born after the coup d'état. He studied astronomy at university, during Pinochet's era. His grandfather taught him mathematics and how to observe the stars (without math, you can't reach the stars; it's a scientific law). Studying galaxies doesn't prevent him from opening his eyes to analyse his country's recent past. He is a great lover of humankind and stars.
Luís, the amateur astronomer
He learnt how to converse with the stars in a concentration camp. He is an impressive, talented, humble man capable of constructing astronomical instruments with his bare hands. He works silently against forgetting.
Miguel, the architect of memory
He survived five concentration camps. He preserved in his memory all the prisons in which he was held prisoner and as soon as he was able to go into exile, he drew up, very precisely, the layout of each camp so that no Chilean will ever be able to say, "I didn't know that existed."
Valentina, the daughter of the stars
Although she's the daughter of disappeared parents, she seems the most carefree character in the film. Her serene take on the events goes further than ours. She was brought up by her grandparents who taught her to observe the sky. Astronomy has given her some answers that enable her to face up to her parents' disappearance.
