Trailer for the documentary Inti-Illimani.
This film relives the forty-year history of the Inti-Illimani through their live music performances and interviews of the current members of the Chilean band.
Historic figures relate first hand the story of these musicians who, suddenly exiled, brought Chile to the world and became vehicles of some of the fundamental messages in the struggle for freedom. Today the INTI-ILLIMANI is an exchange between historic members of the band and young musicians with formal musical training. The latter bring to the band a technical and artistic background that is refined and elevated. Though roots in South American folk music are still the band’s winning and distinctive element, music production has a new energy and richly draws upon experimentation. In this documentary, the Inti-Illimani tell their story, playing and singing on the surge of intense memories and revitalised enthusiasm that immediately propels them into the future.
The public will recognise the familiar thread running through the Inti-Illimani story, and also discover what sparked the turning point that opened up new roads of renewal for the band. Thus we see that music remains the most immediate form of cultural transmission and that cultures, though uprooted from their homelands, can never be lost. The themes of memory, cultural roots, and the fundamental values of life are distilled in this journey which, as all journeys worthy of the name, have a surprise in store: an encounter with one of Italy’s most famous singer composers, Daniele Silvestri. The film documents this moment with images of a unique concert-event of exciting artistic impact and which is, above all, a moving symbol of the brotherhood of humanity.