Miguel Ernesto Littín Cucumides is a renowned Chilean film director, screenwriter, film producer, and novelist, whose illustrious career has spanned multiple decades and continents.
Born in Chile, Littín is best known for directing the country's most popular film of all time, El Chacal de Nahueltoro (1969),which cemented his status as a prominent figure in the New Latin American Cinema movement.
In Mexico, he directed several notable films, including Letters from Marusia, a powerful drama based on a miners' strike in Chile, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
His other Mexican productions include El Recurso del Método (Long Live the President),a co-production with Mexico, France, and Cuba, based on Alejo Carpentier's novel, and The Widow of Montiel, starring Geraldine Chaplin and inspired by a Gabriel García Márquez short story.
Littín's subsequent work in Nicaragua resulted in Alsino and the Condor, an adaptation of Pedro Prado's novel, which won the Golden Prize at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival.
In 1981, he served as a member of the jury at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival.
After relocating to Spain in 1984, Littín decided to secretly return to Chile to document the country's condition under the Pinochet regime, which was later immortalized in Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez's book Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín.
Upon his return to Chile, Littín continued to direct films, including Tierra del Fuego, based on the adventures of Julius Popper, an explorer, and Dawson, Isla 10, a drama about a group of political prisoners sent to Dawson's island during Pinochet's regime.
Littín also served as the mayor of his hometown, Palmilla, in the center valley, from 1992 to 1994 and again from 1996 to 2000.
Throughout his career, Littín's films have received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Actas de Marusia and Alsino and the Condor, which was also nominated for Best Film in a Foreign Language.
His 2005 film, The Last Moon, premiered at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival.
With a body of work that spans multiple genres and continents, Miguel Littín is a true master of his craft, leaving an indelible mark on the world of cinema.
