The Meltdown
The year is 1992, and the backdrop is Chile’s transition from Pinochet to democracy. In her long-awaited sophomore feature, director Manuela Martelli (Chile ‘76, MVFF45) returns to the country's disappeared, spinning out a political allegory through the perspective of nine-year-old Inés (Maya O’ Rourke), the story consistently framed at her eye level. A ski resort owned by Ines’s grandmother gleams against the frozen Andes. In grainy footage, an iceberg traverses the Atlantic Ocean and the screen, bound to a grandiose yet reluctant promise to remain unmelted. With an icy formal elegance, Martelli turns the shrill scrape of skis against snow into an eerie accomplice to Inés, after a guest's disappearance forces the child into the adults’ pact of silence. This Cannes premiere is unnerving, like the immaculate white landscape that surrounds it—a world beginning to thaw but still holding much of the iceberg that lies beneath its surface. —Ivonne Cotorruelo
Director/s
Manuela Martelli
Manuela Martelli debuted as a teenager in the film B-Happy (2003), winning the Coral Award for Best Leading Role at the Havana Film Festival. She continues to act, most recently appearing in God Will Not Help (2025). In 2010, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study for a Master’s degree in Film at Temple University. During her studies, she directed Apnea (2014). A year later, she was selected to participate in the Chile Factory program, where she co-directed the short film Marea (2015). She made her feature debut with Chile ’76 (2022), winning the Sutherland Award at BFI and a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director.