Lux Pascal champions Chilean cinema and literature with 'Summer War' at Tribeca

Chilean-American actress Lux Pascal is bringing Chilean literature and cinema to the forefront at the Tribeca Film Festival with her new film, 'Summer War.' Directed by Alicia Scherson, the movie adapts Roberto Bolaño's posthumous novel, 'The Third Reich,' transposing its narrative to a Chilean beach in 1989.

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The mix of distrust, a permanent sense of threat, with the supposed relaxation and joy of summer, seemed very entertaining to construct.

Pascal plays Ingrid, the girlfriend of Udo Berger, a champion of war board games. Their vacation at a Chilean coastal hotel unfolds during the final days of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. The seemingly idyllic setting becomes a stage where the line between game and reality blurs, particularly after a mysterious drowning incident.

Director Alicia Scherson described the atmosphere as a compelling mix of distrust and a constant sense of threat, juxtaposed with the supposed relaxation of summer. "The beach hides a certain possibility of violence," she noted, adding that it's a place where social classes converge and people are vulnerable, nearly naked. The presence of police and a disappearance at sea subtly reference the political violence that the protagonist, a tourist, fails to fully grasp.

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It is a place where social classes also mix and where we are almost naked, vulnerable. In that scenario, the police presence, the body that disappears in the sea, refers us to a political violence that the protagonist, who is there as a tourist, does not manage to realize.

For Pascal, who was born in the U.S. to exiled Chilean parents and has spent time in Chile, embodying Ingrid presented a unique challenge. She aimed to portray someone who appears foreign to the environment, despite her deep personal and professional connection to the country. "It was difficult to play someone 'foreign' with people whom I not only consider castmates but also friends," she shared.

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It was difficult to play someone 'foreign' with people whom I not only consider castmates but also friends.

Pascal highlighted Ingrid's contradictions, seeing her as someone striving to survive in a potentially hostile world and seeking escape from the chaos within her relationship and the surrounding political climate. She reflected on the societal expectations of generosity and sacrifice often placed on women, noting her own journey of gender transition. With 'Summer War,' Pascal hopes audiences will take away "a piece of Chilean cinema and literature, and a bit of history too!"

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I think that like Ingrid and, particularly, as a woman, we are required a level of generosity and personal sacrifice that is not necessarily human.