Pablo Striano

At a summit for Latin American presidents in Chile where the region's geopolitical strategies and alliances are in discussion, Argentine president Hernán Blanco endures political and family drama that will force him to face his own demons.

Santiago, capital of Chile during the Marxist government of elected, highly controversial president Salvador Allende. Father McEnroe supports his leftist views by introducing a program at the prestigious "collegio" (Catholic prep school) St. Patrick to allow free admission of some proletarian kids. One of them is Pedro Machuca, slum-raised son of the cleaning lady in Gonzalo Infante's liberal-bourgeois home. Yet the new classmates become buddies, paradoxically protesting together as Gonzalo gets adopted by Pedro's slum family and gang. But the adults spoil that too, not in the least when general Pinochet's coup ousts Allende, and supporters such as McEnroe.

Cecilia Ureta, host of Chile's highest-rated news show, announces the results of a United Nations survey, the conclusion of which states that 62% of Chilean women are or have never been unfaithful. Ironically, Cecilia maintains an extramarital relationship with the network's owner. Maliciously, a rival colleague discovers this during a live broadcast, with tragic results. The revelation spreads becoming a conversation of national interest.

Nieves has murdered the man who was tried to rape his younger brother. Sentenced to five years in prison, she is immersed in a hard and marginal world, she does yearns to one day being released and fulfill her lifelong dream: to know the flowery desert in northern Chile. When an oversight of her captors allows her to flee, her dreams will have to wait still. She dedicates herself to managing a nightclub where her former jailmates prostitute themselves.

When the Chilean officials lift the ban on harvesting the shellfish "el loco" (which purportedly is an aphrodisiac) in the seaside village of Puerto Gala greed and lust take hold. Greed is embodied by Carlos Maldonato, "El Canuto," who attempts to buy all of the shellfish for a Japanese company, and by a traveling band of prostitutes that accompany the influx of fishermen. El Canuto also wrangles to get into good stead with an old flame, Sonia, who is now the proprietor of "La Pincoya," a local restaurant. But "el loco" proves more effective, and more damaging, than anyone could have guessed.

A determined teenager must rely on her own wits when her fractured family abandons her.

Elisa, a lonely and shy librarian, moves to live in a downtown building, without knowing the killing of a young student took place there some time ago. A strange feeling taking over her will cause a drastic personality change while also leading her to unveil the secret behind the murder.

A man takes his insecure, overweight paramour to a seaside resort to consummate their relationship, but there he stumbles onto an artistic discovery that will change his life.

After a long absence, Negro Torres returns to his hometown, in Cunco, to attend his mother's funeral. There, his old cronies propose him to set up a business to buy seafood and then sell them. After improvising the preparations and returning to the town with the seafood, they face a big surprise

Three vignettes about the lives of young Chileans and their passions and frustrations over one of the century's most important rituals: football.

The ghost of a young German colonist, who died a couple of hundred years ago in unclear supernatural circumstances, appears in Chile to fulfill her mythical destiny. To achieve this, she will intervene in the life of an unsuccessful publicist and his lover.

The formerly successful singer Luis Dimas and his driver, known as Takilleitor, tour the cities of Chile. They are joined by two former agents of the CNI, Pinochet's secret police, who are chasing some kind of wooden parrot containing a mysterious political message.

A small house is devastated by the irrepressible force of the Ñuble river. Anita is rescued from the riverbank while her parents disappear into the water. She is given in adoption to her godparents, who can not keep her, they turn her over to a large hacienda in the area, where the little one will be the companion of the sickly patron, Lucia. When the owner of the hacienda dies, Anita, disregarding the advice of the other servants, stays to serve the boss, Don Pablo. She is already a woman and he is a single man. A strong attraction emerges between the two. This sad story of love and revenge as strong and uncontrollable as the overflowing waters of the Ñuble River.

Niki and his friends are members of the marginalised underclass living on the outskirts of Santiago. During Chile's transition from dictatorship to democracy (1988-1990), they forge a path from drug- and drink-fuelled nihilism and petty crime into the world of market-driven illegality and Niki begins a seemingly predestined relationship with the middle-class "loca", Manuela. Memorable episodes and characters, quotable dialogue and a mix of earthy national portrait and surrealistic flourish make this one of the key Chilean films of the Nineties.

Dreaming of a better life, a young woman leaves her country home and moves to the city where she only finds trouble.