Kerry Candaele’s second Beethoven film (after Following the Ninth) explores the composer’s only opera, Fidelio, through the lens of a contemporary political context: the long shadow of Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile. Jorge Pena Hen was a composer and conductor. He was also among the tens of thousands arrested and killed after the coup which brought down the democratically-elected socialist Allende government. Restaging Fidelio in an abandoned factory in Valparaíso, Candaele meets Pena Hen’s granddaughter, Maria, who dedicates her art form — Butoh dance — to memorializing her grandfather, and sees surprising echoes of the opera in her tale. Love & Justice has it all: Beethoven’s stirring music and singing, history, politics, but above all it’s an inspiring testament to the enduring power of creativity and artistic expression, even in the hardest times.
Directing | Kerry Candaele | Director |
Camera | Chris Bottoms | Director of Photography |
Production | Kerry Candaele | Producer |
Writing | Kerry Candaele | Writer |
Production | Pam Gunther | Producer |
Production | Greg Blake Miller | Producer |
Editing | Caren McCaleb | Editor |
Production | Pam Gunther | Executive Producer |
Production | Liliam Molina-Cesareo | Associate Producer |
Production | Nick Taylor | Associate Producer |