A film feuilleton, a musical comedy, social satire seasoned with extremely dark humor… Ruiz described his unfinished film Socialist Realism as a “political soap opera” about a friendship between a petty bourgeois party official and a working-class lowlife. According to Rúiz, Chilean reality exists in no form other than a telenovela. Its comedy is simultaneously surreal, absurd, and cruel, drawing the viewer into a mysterious Borgesian labyrinth. Envisioned as a provocation and ironic commentary on the debate culture and the image of the coalition Unidad Popular, which brought Salvador Allende to power in 1970, the film was certainly conceived as an agitational contribution to the discussion of “How does revolution enter the topic?” However, in the editing phase (a rough cut of four hours was assembled), the project became a victim of unfortunate historical circumstances – Allende was assassinated, a coup broke out, and the sad period of Pinochet’s dictatorship began. Like many other Chilean activists, artists and intellectuals, Ruiz was forced to leave the country. His widow, frequent collaborator, and award-winning director Valeria Sarmiento found her husband’s material in 2016 and took it into her skilled hands, and before us is her third (re)discovery, following The Wandering Soap Opera (1990/2017) and The Tango of the Widower and its Distorting Mirror (1967/2020).

Awards and festivals:

San Sebastian International Film Festival (2023) – world premiere