‘Red Hangar’ film director interview: Berlin 2026

red hangar Hangar Rojo, the debut feature-length novel from Chilean director, producer, and screenwriter Juan Pablo Sallato, may be set in 1970s Chile during a military coup, but the themes and human challenges it explores feel very timely.

The film tells the story of former Air Force Intelligence Chief Captain Jorge Silva, who receives orders that will change his life forever. He is tasked with turning the Air Force Academy, which trains young cadets, into a detention and torture center. The reason is a coup by a group of military officers led by General Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew socialist President Salvador Allende.

The Red Hangar world is Perspective section new voice Berlin International Film Festival. Inspired by real events and shot in black and white, the film has been described as the first Latin American thriller to explore the inner workings of the military during the dictatorship of the 1970s.

Sallato previously directed documentaries. red eyes and series addicted to horns, liberatedand culture of sex. he directed red hangar It was produced based on a screenplay by Luis Emilio Guzman. The film starred Nicolás Zárate.prison in the andes, Inside the mind of a psychopath), Boris Quercia, Marcial Tagle, Catalina Stuardo, Aron Hernández.

Produced by Villano and co-produced by Brava Cine, Rain Dogs, Caravan, Berta Film and TVN. Worldwide sales are handled by Premium Films/MPM Premium.

Silva faces all kinds of dilemmas in the film. “Silva, confident that the fear will not last long, tries to stay on the sidelines.” red hangar. “But the arrival of Colonel Jahn, an old rival who returns with unchecked power and unfinished business, forces Silva to confront not only his past, but also his deepest beliefs. As trucks begin to fill the hangar with prisoners and his exercise of power becomes increasingly ruthless, Silva is caught at an impossible crossroads. Disobedience can cost him his life, but so can obedience.”

thursday I asked Sallato about his creation. red hangarThe politically and morally ambiguous issues it addresses, the timeliness of the film, and what he’s working on next.

Thank you for taking me through difficult moral choices through powerful movies. I’m curious: Is Jorge Silva’s story widely known in Chile, or is the film based on an autobiography or a book?

I really appreciate your words. Jorge Silva’s story is not widely known in Chile. It circulates mainly within the small number of people who have studied the period. The most representative case related to this is the case of General Alberto Bachelet, the father of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who died after being tortured by the dictatorship. The man who was with him during his last moments in the public prison was Captain Silva.

The film is inspired by an autobiographical chronicle. shoot the crowd It is the work of Fernando Villagran, one of the two students whose lives Silva saves in the story. Villagran investigated Chilean Air Force officers and non-commissioned officers who had been tortured by their comrades for refusing to participate in the coup.

I was able to meet Jorge Silva through Fernando, who actively participated in the production. Hearing him tell the story in the first person, the exact moment the coup took place, was crucial. But what surprised us most was his stance. Not at the highest echelons of power, but in the middle ground, where orders arrive fragmented and obedience seems inevitable. Through that moral ambiguity and that perspective, we understand that this is the heart of the film.

Why did you choose black and white movies??

There were a few signs that led me to black and white. It first appeared while I was reading the book. In one passage, Fernando Villagran writes that when he woke up on September 11, 1973 and learned about the military coup, everything suddenly seemed black and white to him. The image gave me a deep cinematic feeling. The seed was planted there. The intuition was that this story should be depicted through the visual imagination. Interestingly, when I later mentioned this line to Fernando, he didn’t even remember writing it, but it was there.

The second reason was stylistic. My background is closely tied to art school and many of my references come from painting and its history as well as film. I always imagined film in an expressionist mode, where the images carry strong emotional weight. In that sense, black and white, or contrasts between light and dark, and gradations of gray became a visual metaphor for the moral dilemma at the heart of the story.

It also creates a certain temporal distance. This places us in an era where collective memory is often associated with black-and-white images, while also giving films their own identity and language.
You mentioned that the film focuses on very difficult moral decisions. Why did you want to explore that human dilemma?

What drew me to this story was that gesture of humanity even in the midst of barbarism. Although the atrocities of Latin American dictatorships are widely known, I felt it was important to approach this conflict from a different angle.

The perspective of a military officer forced to choose between obeying orders and listening to his conscience is rarely explored. It’s an uncomfortable but necessary dilemma. Because such decisions do not just belong to the past; they continue to occur today in a variety of contexts.

To tell the story of a man who, under enormous pressure, decided to do what he believed was right is not idealizing him. It asks how far our own responsibility extends. I hope the film will activate the question in the audience: ‘What would each of us do in a similar situation?’

Movies are set in a specific place and time. But as you alluded to a moment ago, this film seems timely. Do you also feel that the dilemmas and themes it addresses feel very current?

Yes, of course. The film premieres in Berlinale – Especially in the city of Berlin – you have done very meaningful work. It is a city that constantly confronts the past in order to understand the present. In a way, this is what the movie is trying to do.

I believe that it is urgent today to reconsider our moral and ethical boundaries. All over the world, we are witnessing human rights abuses and abuses. international A remarkable agreement on normalization. Inevitably, this brings to mind some of the darkest moments of the 20th century.

The film doesn’t offer easy answers, but insists on continuing to ask the question: ‘What do we do when the context turns hostile?’ How far does individual responsibility extend? I like to think that even in extremely adverse situations, there is always the possibility to act differently.

What was the biggest challenge for the production team in making the film feel like it did in the 1970s?

The biggest challenge was finding the right location. The film required an Air Force training school and air base that still preserved an authentic 1970s aesthetic.

The only place in Chile that actually met these conditions was El Bosque Air Force Base and Training School, the very place where the actual incident occurred. We approached them but were turned away without any explanation.

That made us rethink everything. We decided that if we could find a suitable location in Mendoza, Argentina, we would move our entire production there. And it happened. Thanks to Cuyo National University and Condor Air Force Base, we were able to recreate the world of the film with strong visual consistency.

It was a leap into the unknown. We traveled with a reduced team and joined a local Argentinian crew that created a strong synergy with the cast. The film was completed in just 18 shooting days.

In the end, that obstacle became a strength. The co-production between Chile, Argentina and Italy not only solved a practical problem, but also reaffirmed our belief that co-production is one of the most important ways to sustain independent cinema.

How did you find and decide on the title? red hangar?

The title is taken directly from the book. The ‘Red Hangar’ is the actual detention area inside the base and made a lasting impression from the start.

In some ways, it refers to a specific, physical space. But it also carries strong symbolic weight. ‘Red’ inevitably implies violence and bloodshed, but also implies political condemnation of the time. Hangars are intended to protect aircraft and protect machinery. Transforming it into a place of detention speaks to how quickly an institution can change its function. That change is ultimately the core of the movie.

This is your first novel feature film. Do you plan to work on more novels, or return to documentaries or series? Do you have a new project?

Yes, of course. Through Villano, the production company we founded almost 20 years ago with Juan Ignacio Sabatini, we continue to develop documentary and fiction projects.

Personally, I got to work again with Nicolas Sarate, the lead actor of <<<. red hangarIt is an adaptation of a play by the iconic Chilean theater company Ictus. The project title is children have grown up (children have grown up), written by Emilia Noguera, tells the story of one night in which three siblings are reunited after the death of their parents.

As a producer, we are also in advanced stages of development: FALSEIt is a fictional feature film directed by Juan Ignacio Sabatini and written by Luis Emilio Guzmán. red hangar — Based on the true story of Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas, who cut off his own face in 1989 to help Chile qualify for the 1990 World Cup.