UC San Diego

This thesis explores the historical background that led up to the establishment of military dictatorships in Chile and Argentina that led to establishment of communal homes in Cuba. These communal homes (Proyecto Hogares in Chile and La Guarderia in Argentina) served as spaces for connection between children that were experiencing separation from this family. The documentaries “El Edificio de los Chilenos”(2010) from Macarena Aguiló and “La Guarderia”(2015) from Virginia Croatto focus on the childhoods of the directors in these communal homes. I will explore how these documentaries function as tools to expand on what memory is, and how they operate as tools to push past melancholia in order to assist in recovering the loss of the object.