Online premiere of “The Araucaria Project: My Journey to Discover the Sacred”

As part of the special activities taking place this semester to celebrate 10 years of FMA, the Foundation premeried “The Araucaria Project: My Journey to Discover the Sacred”. A documentary medium-length film directed by Chilean artist Fiorella Angelini, it focuses on the presence of the Araucaria araucana—a species native to Chile and Argentina—in the United Kingdom.

From her personal experiences encountering Araucarias araucanas in London, Fiorella Angelini begins an investigation led by her curiosity about the origin of the name used for the species in England (Monkey Puzzle tree) and the journey from South America to Europe. Using a poetic documentary style, the artist interviews various experts from the UK and Chile to understand both the tree’s journey and her own, touching on themes such as conservation, migration, post-colonialism, identity and the tree’s sacred meaning.

Some of the collaborators of the documentary include members from Fundación Mar Adentro team, Universidad de La Frontera, the Mapuche Community in Curarrehue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Royal Botanic, Edinburgh Gardens RBGE, The Royal Horticultural Society and University College of London.

The medium-length film can be seen this Tuesday, September 21 from 12:00pm on Fundación Mar Adentro’s Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.

Technical Sheet

Direction, script and edition: Fiorella Angelini
Camera: Patricio Alfaro (Chile) and Yuli Serfaty (United Kingdom)
Poem narrator: Izzy Nakhla
Script consultant: Gonzalo Maza
Editing consultant: Patricio Alfaro
Translator: Andrea Lathrop
Documentation Images: Lindley Library of The Royal Horticultural Society
Research Papers: The Royal Horticultural Society RHS, Anglo Chilean Society in the UK
With the support of: The Sarabande Emerging Artist Award 2021 by the Sarabande Foundation (UK); ANID Scholarships Chile Masters Abroad (Chile); The Slade School of Art, University College of London (UK).