Genaro Arriagada and the controversy of Assassination: “I doubt the relevance, for the memory of Frei Montalva, of his death being treated as a ‘thriller'”

Two weeks after delivering the highest amount in its history ($ 4,585 million), the CNTV fund is experiencing controversial days. The entity that annually awards financing to television series -from The replacement a Invisible heroes, the last to be broadcast – was agitated this Tuesday, due to the case of the project Assassination, a six-episode story based on the investigation into the death of Eduardo Frei Montalva, who for the second year in a row applied and was not awarded the award.

In a letter to which he had access The Third PM, sent to the president of the DC, Fuad Chahín, to members of its board of directors and senators and deputies of the community, the producer and actor Pablo Díaz del Río – creator of the project – expressed his “deep surprise and concern, for the equivocal and inconsistent signals with the history of the Christian Democratic Party, which we have seen during the last two years from the Councilor of the National Television Council (CNTV), Mr. Genaro Arriagada Herrera, a member of your Party”.

A sustained action in the determination made by the former minister –advisor of the entity since 2009 and reconfirmed in office in November 2013– in the last instance that defined the winning productions. In this, held on August 27, and headed by the president of the CNTV, Catalina Parot, the vice president, Mabel Iturrieta, and composed of the nine councilors, Arriagada assigned the lowest vote to the project inspired by the former president, which counts the endorsement by Carmen Frei, who gave the rights to her book.

Of three evaluations that each member can deliver (1 to 3, assignable only once, so they must choose between which of the five finalist projects they allocate their preferences), the militant DC gave him a 1, his being the lowest evaluation he received Assassination. Last year, when the project also finished third in the line Historical Series or Fictional Historical Documentaries –where only the first two are awarded–, it was given a 2. Another difference is that in the 2020 edition of the contest Assassination It was just one vote from second place, compared to the three that distanced it from that place in 2019.

“Regardless of the criteria that Mr. Arriagada has personally defined for not supporting AssassinationWe believe that this fact publicly compromises the credibility and consequence of the Christian Democratic Party in its constant fight against political violence and repression. How is it explained to public opinion that the PDC counselor has denied support for a project that reveals the figure of Frei Montalva and at the same time condemns the abuse of Human Rights? ”, Asks the letter prepared by Díaz, where the Support that the series received from Corfo and international bodies such as the Filmarket Hub fair.

In a statement shared here, Genaro Arriagada details the reasons behind his vote, based on the previous analysis carried out by external evaluators, who deliver a report on the technical and artistic quality of each project and define the finalists who are then subjected to the preferences of the directors. In that process, as indicated, the series on the ex-president finished fourth.

“The project Assassination It is not a report on the death of President Eduardo Frei but rather it classifies in the category of ‘Historical Fiction Documentary’, this is one where historical facts coexist with fictional characters and situations and, as the evaluators’ report very well says, it is’ a thriller…. ‘”, He relates. “Specifically, in different parts, the evaluators indicate that it is a ‘series of historical fiction in a thriller / police key, based on the investigation of the murder of former president Eduardo Frei….’, ‘The theme and the audiovisual proposal… it deals with a historical subject of great relevance from the thriller ‘,’… it can be an exportable project ‘”.

“In general, out of respect for the creators of the audiovisual area and to avoid political-partisan bias in the allocation of these funds, I tend to support the ratings made by that Committee of Evaluators, voting for the first projects they present. In this case, as I had done the previous year, I made an exception placing it in third place (and not in fourth), although I have doubts about the relevance, for President Frei Montalva’s own memory, of being treated his death as a ‘thriller’“, Explain.

Ultimately, Arriagada points out: “Finally, I want to reject in the most emphatic way that in the qualification of the work of hundreds of artists and creators who participate in these competitive funds, political-partisan alignments may have an influence over creativity. At least that is what I have never been and will never be ”.

In August of this year, before the CNTV winners were revealed, Pablo Díaz del Río gave La Tercera the latest update on the project. “I have tried to make a content as universal as possible, that is, not because it is a president of Chile, it is a Chilean series. I have tried to build a police officer with a lot of intrigue from start to finish, similar to the murder or the Danish and Swedish series that are doing well on the different platforms”, He pointed out, specifying that the protagonist would be a character inspired by Carmen Frei and played by Amparo Noguera.

He even projected the story outside the Frei Montalva case, raising the idea of ​​new cycles, stating “if one starts to investigate, there are several more cases of assassination in Latin America, then if the series does well in the first season , this could perfectly grow ”.