Three people stand in front of a tent in a desert-like camp, still from the Documentary Unwelcomed
Still from the documentary Unwelcomed
 

Unwelcomed

by Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez & Amilcar Infante
Unwelcomed follows the lives of displaced youth navigating exile, belonging and survival.
2025  ·  1h6m  ·  Chile
Spanish
English subs
About the Film

At the end of 2021, sparked by an unprecedented influx of migrants from Venezuela, Chile experienced a remarkably violent anti-immigrant protest. The last decade’s economic collapse has driven close to 8 million Venezuelans to flee their country—the second-largest migration crisis worldwide and the first of its kind in South America. For those who chose to migrate south, traversing thousands of kilometres to the Andean Highlands and the Atacama Desert, a harsh reality awaited. Determined to preserve their lifestyle, an angry community made sure to make them feel “unwelcomed,” responding with violence and attacking families and children while the police turned a blind eye. This poignant chorus of testimonies floating over majestic cinematography sheds light on a new era in the history of migration: those fleeing conflict and economic uncertainty are treated as criminals, and their choices for a hopeful future are narrowing down. Lucila Moctezuma.

Upcoming Screenings

Stay tuned for upcoming screenings!

Writer(s)
Sebastian Gonzalez, Mendez Amilcar Infante and Hernan Saavedra
Editor(s)
Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez, Hernan Saavedra
Producer
Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez
Executive Producer(s)
Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez, Esteban Sandoval and Terry Bean
Cinematography
Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez, Amilcar Infante
Composer
Matias Rojas, Cristian Freund
Sound
Oscar Sepulveda Wirth
Image Post-Production
Christian Nawrath Smith
Sound Post-Production
Cristian Freund
About the Director

Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez

Executive director at Amilcar Films, graduated in Business and Economics from the University of Chile with a Diploma in Executive Production for Film and TV. He has worked in executive production roles for companies such as Tercermundo and Glaciar Films, among other Chilean production companies, developing various formats including documentary series for television, web series, music videos, and content for various organizations. His debut feature film Unwelcomed (2025) was selected at Cannes Docs 2024 in the Chilean Showcase.

Currently, co-producing the documentary Julio Escámez, Beginning and End, and starting the distribution of two short films produced and directed by him in 2023. He has been awarded by national institutions such as the Council of Arts and Audiovisual Industry and ChileDoc for participation in markets such as EFM, CPH:DOX, Ventana Sur and Bogotá Audiovisual Market.

 
Other films by Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez

Amilcar Infante

Film director and screenwriter graduated from Bande À Part, Barcelona Film School, with international experience in production, direction, and screenwriting for fiction, documentaries, and music videos in countries such as Spain, Japan, the United States, Honduras, and Chile. He is currently developing the documentary series “Photos, a dialogue between the past and the present” on neighborhood architectural and photographic heritage, the documentary “La Nube Rosa” (The Pink Cloud), focusing on addiction and the abandonment of homeless people, and the visual poem “Nipón Takes,” filmed in Japan during a National Geographic expedition in 2023.

 
Other films by Amilcar Infante

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