Santiago, 2018, and the turbulent student protests highlight the ongoing state violence and criminalization of dissent in Diego Ayala and Aníbal Jofre’s latest feature, The Affections (Los Afectos), competing alongside nine other Chilean projects at the Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic).

The two met in film school and this is their second feature film, following their 2013 feature film, “Volantín Cortao,” which was selected for Carte Blanche in Locarno and premiered at the Rome Film Festival.

Produced by Valentina Roblero Arellano and Francisca Mery at Orion Cine in Chile and co-produced by Incubadora in Ecuador, the film follows school inspector Benajmín (Gastón Salgado) amidst the unrest as students resist and he grows weary of his daughter Karina’s (Catalina Ríos) close friend Iván (Gianluca Abarza), who encourages her bold activism. When she is murdered by authorities during a protest, he is challenged to rethink his long-held beliefs.

The project delicately portrays the inner workings of its protagonist as he struggles with the rigid responsibilities of his job while navigating the state-imposed violence that took his daughter. A collective commentary through individual soul-searching and communal grieving, the characters live within constraints both self-imposed and societal.