Assent

oscar raby 2013

When the military took control of Chile in the coup of September 1973, it was the culmination of Cold War tensions, international political influence and internal conflict. For the personnel of the Army, it was an event that changed the direction of their lives.

The ‘Caravan of Death’ that travelled the country by helicopter conducting executions of military detainees in the immediate aftermath of the coup was a mechanism to install terror into the community. It was also a mechanism to demonstrate the force of the central authorities to military staff outside the capital, and, in making them complicit in the actions of the junta, to ensure their loyalty. Thirty years later, the repercussions of those events still play out daily – in courts, in politics, and in the homes of Chilean people.

This autobiographical immersive documentary puts the user in the footsteps of media artist Oscar Raby’s father, who in 1973 was a 22-year-old army officer stationed in the north of Chile, on the day when the Caravan of Death came to his regiment. With him, in Virtual Reality, you’re witness to an execution of a group of prisoners captured by the military regime – an army that Raby’s father was himself a part of.

The first ever VR project to win an Audience Award at a major film festival, Assent is a ground-breaking immersive documentary that has become a classic of the genre.