Helvio Soto

Directing

Helvio Soto

Born — Died

1930-02-21 — 2001-11-29

Place of birth

Santiago de Chile, Chile

Known for

Directing

Credits

25 titles

Helvio Soto Soto was born in Santiago on February 21, 1930. He was a Chilean filmmaker, considered one of the most important filmmakers of the mid-1960s and 1970s. He went to law school, a career he never practiced. At a very young age, and hearing the call of communications, he emigrated from Chile, achieving some positions as assistant in films shot in Argentina and working in radio in Ecuador. He wrote some books such as Semana a semana, which had regular critical success. By the time it returns to Chile, the cinema begins to present a boom never seen before: the entry of 16 mm cameras plus the socio-political conceptions give a renovating air to the cinema made not only in this part, b…

Known for

Moon Over Parador poster
5.9

Underappreciated actor Jack Noah is on location in Parador at the time the dictator dies. The dictator's right-hand man makes Jack an offer he cannot refuse... to play the dictator. Jack's acting skills fool the masses but not close friends and employees of the dictator.

Moon Over Parador

1988

Rain over Santiago poster
6.5

A semi-fictional account on the fatidic September 11, 1973, when the military commanded by General Pinochet took over the power from socialist president Salvador Allende, initiating a dictatorship that lasted until 1988 causing the deaths and disappearances of many people.

Rain over Santiago

1975

Mon Ami Washington poster
9.0

The adventures of two gun merchants competing in the same market.

Mon Ami Washington

1984

The ABC of Love poster
6.0

Film that includes three short films by different authors about love: "O pacto" by Eduardo Coutinho, "Terrible Night" by Rodolfo Kuhn, and "Magic World" by Helvio Soto.

The ABC of Love

1967

The Triple Death of the Third Character poster
6.0

After spending a long time in prison, a man is pursued by international agents who want to kill him. Without knowing exactly what is going on, the protagonist realizes that they want to kill him because the book he wrote about his time in prison contains secret codes that should not have been revealed. He, who did it by chance, realizes that he is in grave danger. One by one, the characters in the novel are eliminated so that the mysterious secret remains hidden forever.

The Triple Death of the Third Character

1981

The Suns of Easter Island poster
6.4

Six people find a mysterious mark in the center of their left hand and all independently go to Easter Island in hopes to uncover the mystery.

The Suns of Easter Island

1972

Film credits

Behind the camera

Rain over Santiago poster
6.5

A semi-fictional account on the fatidic September 11, 1973, when the military commanded by General Pinochet took over the power from socialist president Salvador Allende, initiating a dictatorship that lasted until 1988 causing the deaths and disappearances of many people.

Rain over Santiago

1975

Rain over Santiago poster
6.5

A semi-fictional account on the fatidic September 11, 1973, when the military commanded by General Pinochet took over the power from socialist president Salvador Allende, initiating a dictatorship that lasted until 1988 causing the deaths and disappearances of many people.

Rain over Santiago

1975

Mon Ami Washington poster
9.0

The adventures of two gun merchants competing in the same market.

Mon Ami Washington

1984

The ABC of Love poster
6.0

Film that includes three short films by different authors about love: "O pacto" by Eduardo Coutinho, "Terrible Night" by Rodolfo Kuhn, and "Magic World" by Helvio Soto.

The ABC of Love

1967

The Triple Death of the Third Character poster
6.0

After spending a long time in prison, a man is pursued by international agents who want to kill him. Without knowing exactly what is going on, the protagonist realizes that they want to kill him because the book he wrote about his time in prison contains secret codes that should not have been revealed. He, who did it by chance, realizes that he is in grave danger. One by one, the characters in the novel are eliminated so that the mysterious secret remains hidden forever.

The Triple Death of the Third Character

1981

The Suns of Easter Island poster
6.4

Six people find a mysterious mark in the center of their left hand and all independently go to Easter Island in hopes to uncover the mystery.

The Suns of Easter Island

1972

No artwork available
6.0

In this film the director's recurring concerns return: the divisions in the Chilean left, and its contradictions between what the director calls the "traditional" and the "revolutionary" left. The problem is exposed through the doubts and obsessions of a strange police chief who cannot establish the limits between critical behavior and militant responsibility.

Metamorphosis of the Chief of the Political Police

1973

No artwork available
6.0

In this film the director's recurring concerns return: the divisions in the Chilean left, and its contradictions between what the director calls the "traditional" and the "revolutionary" left. The problem is exposed through the doubts and obsessions of a strange police chief who cannot establish the limits between critical behavior and militant responsibility.

Metamorphosis of the Chief of the Political Police

1973

Érase un niño, un guerrillero, un caballo… poster
9.0

Feature film that wraps, through Jorge Lillo's text, three short films by Helvio Soto

Érase un niño, un guerrillero, un caballo…

1967

Érase un niño, un guerrillero, un caballo… poster
9.0

Feature film that wraps, through Jorge Lillo's text, three short films by Helvio Soto

Érase un niño, un guerrillero, un caballo…

1967

Monday to Sunday poster
6.6

Starts a love story between an art student and a medical student, narrated from Monday to Sunday.

Monday to Sunday

1968

Monday to Sunday poster
6.6

Starts a love story between an art student and a medical student, narrated from Monday to Sunday.

Monday to Sunday

1968

No artwork available
6.0

A boy goes to his friend's funeral procession. When he realizes that his grave does not have flowers like the others, and that he does not have money to buy them, he goes out looking for some in the streets of Santiago.

Yo tenía un camarada

1964

No artwork available
6.0

A boy goes to his friend's funeral procession. When he realizes that his grave does not have flowers like the others, and that he does not have money to buy them, he goes out looking for some in the streets of Santiago.

Yo tenía un camarada

1964

Voto + Fusil poster
6.4

The political evolution in Chile seeing from three different times: 1937, 1947 and 1970. A film that shows how a revolution cannot be accomplished by electoral means, and how the wealthy class will always attempt to destroy that revolution, with the help of the armed forces, as soon as their privileges are threatened.

Voto + Fusil

1971

Voto + Fusil poster
6.4

The political evolution in Chile seeing from three different times: 1937, 1947 and 1970. A film that shows how a revolution cannot be accomplished by electoral means, and how the wealthy class will always attempt to destroy that revolution, with the help of the armed forces, as soon as their privileges are threatened.

Voto + Fusil

1971

Bloody Nitrate poster
5.4

Chilean soldiers try to survive in the desert after they are attacked by Peruvian troops. The 17 survivors are held together by the Captain. The Lieutenant is a civilian attorney who clashes with the Captain as he pursues the valuable rights to nitrate deposits in the area. When the fighting was over, 25,000 soldiers from Chile, Peru and Bolivia had perished while trying to secure the coveted mineral rights for foreign companies.

Bloody Nitrate

1969

Bloody Nitrate poster
5.4

Chilean soldiers try to survive in the desert after they are attacked by Peruvian troops. The 17 survivors are held together by the Captain. The Lieutenant is a civilian attorney who clashes with the Captain as he pursues the valuable rights to nitrate deposits in the area. When the fighting was over, 25,000 soldiers from Chile, Peru and Bolivia had perished while trying to secure the coveted mineral rights for foreign companies.

Bloody Nitrate

1969

No artwork available
NR

A peasant without money or work, sells his soul to "El Garrudo" in order to get wealth and marry the young and beautiful Petita. Years later, Juan Maula and "El Garrudo" debate in a duel of "payas" (a singing and composing competition) , where the peasant's soul and his freedom will be the prize.

Juan Maula y el Garrudo

1966

No artwork available
NR

Two guerrillas (Miguel Littin and Jorge Guerra) wander lost in the desert until one of them dies. A jeep appears in the distance to rescue the survivor, but unable to read the signs of comradeship pointed out to him by the drivers of the vehicle, he shoots them.

El Analfabeto

1965

No artwork available
NR

Two guerrillas (Miguel Littin and Jorge Guerra) wander lost in the desert until one of them dies. A jeep appears in the distance to rescue the survivor, but unable to read the signs of comradeship pointed out to him by the drivers of the vehicle, he shoots them.

El Analfabeto

1965

No artwork available
NR

Sequences that illustrate moments in a woman's life, in parallel to the political events happening in South America during the 60's.

Ana

1965

No artwork available
NR

Sequences that illustrate moments in a woman's life, in parallel to the political events happening in South America during the 60's.

Ana

1965

No artwork available
NR

The Death of a Horse tells the last days of a horse that pulls a cart, which when it dies is sent to the zoo as meat for the lions. It was later included as part of the feature film Once Upon a Boy, a Guerrilla and a Horse, from 1967.

La Muerte de un Caballo

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