From October 16 to 19, the third edition of the Chillán Analog International Photography Festival – FICHA Fest will take place in the Ñuble Region, featuring international guests, exhibitions, free workshops, and many more activities — all completely free.
“FICHA is much more than a photography festival; it’s an act of cultural decentralization. It brings the photographic craft to local communities and territories to build community from the ground up, rooted in both local and Latin American perspectives. Through our open call, we aim to bring together diverse viewpoints, invite contemplation and experimentation, and share the craft. FICHA is an invitation to shape identity through analog and collective practices,” emphasized Luigi Brisso Pifferi, director of FICHA Fest.
In 2025, FICHA returns with momentum and vision. Under the theme “Developing Territories Through the Analog Lens,” the festival offers four days of community, memory, and photographic experimentation, positioning southern Chile as a Latin American visual hub. FICHA Fest is funded by the 2025 National Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.
One of the major highlights is the change of venue: FICHA’s Latin American exhibition will be staged for the first time in the structural shell of the Municipal Theater of Chillán, a history‑rich space opening its doors to showcase high-caliber analog photography.
The exhibition titled “This Is America” will be open to the public from October 16 to November 30 and features works by Eugenia Vargas Pereira (Chile), Florence Goupil (Peru), Kelly Ledezma (Bolivia), Paty Banda (Mexico), Máximo Corvalán Pincheira (Chile), and Luigi Brisso Pifferi (Chile).
Additionally, the collective exhibition FOTOMUNDI Latinoamericano will also be on view at the Municipal Theater of Chillán from October 16 to November 30. This showcase includes photographic works from 14 Latin American countries: Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Honduras.
The Municipal Cultural Center of Chillán will host the free workshops led by renowned international photographers Célica Véliz (Argentina), Arturo Talavera (Mexico), and Walter Blas (Concepción). These sessions focus on sharing knowledge and hands-on experience in analog, chemical, and handcrafted photography — disciplines that continue to draw strong interest for their technical depth and aesthetic richness.
Another milestone is the Chilean premiere of the documentary “Julia se revela” (2024) by Claudia Holgado and Andrea Quiroz, which tells the story of Julia Chambi, the first Andean Peruvian woman photographer.
Likewise, one of 2025’s new initiatives is a heritage research project centered on Barrio Ultraestación and Eje Brasil, key areas in Chillán’s urban history following the 1939 earthquake. Through interviews, archives, and field records, the project seeks to reconstruct local memory, culminating in a visual exhibition, a publication, and a community photo walk open to all. Details about the route are available on the event’s official website fichafest.cl.
Finally, organizers announced a showcase featuring work created by children from the public schools Liceo Bicentenario de Excelencia Técnico Puente Ñuble and Escuela La Loma, in the El Manzano area on the road to San Nicolás. These students will take part in photography mediations designed for young audiences, reinforcing the festival’s commitment to arts education and cultural decentralization.
FICHA Fest – Chillán Analog International Photography Festival – was born in 2022 as an invitation to build a living, analog, Latin American community. From Chillán, in southern Chile, the festival proposes a return to the origins of the medium — slow looking and being present. It is a meeting place that brings together photographers, artists, and crafts around analog, chemical, and handmade photography, engaging with everyday life, public schools, neighborhoods, and diverse audiences.
Through workshops, exhibitions, talks, mediations, excursions, and photobooks, FICHA cultivates a way of making photography that is lived and shared — a visual language tied to craft, slow living, reuse, reflection, and handmade art.
Since its inception in 2023, FICHA Fest has established itself as the leading analog photography gathering in Chile and across Latin America. What began as an unprecedented meeting of more than 150 photographers and a thousand images from Arica to Patagonia has grown into a continental space for exchange, training, and visual creation.
In 2024, submissions grew to 1,500 works from ten Latin American countries, and Chillán welcomed attendees from Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico — helping shape a vibrant cultural tourism circuit around chemical and handcrafted photography. More information at https://fichafest.cl
