Patricio Guzmán, the influential Chilean filmmaker known for documenting the political turbulence of Chile’s 1970s and its ongoing social struggles, has died at the age of 85. Guzmán passed away on Tuesday in Paris due to cardiorespiratory arrest, according to Chilean news reports.

Guzmán’s work was deeply intertwined with the aftermath of the 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, which overthrew Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. Throughout his career, Guzmán explored the impact of dictatorship and political violence on Chilean society. Though his films often addressed political themes, he resisted being labeled as an activist or political filmmaker, describing his approach as metaphorical and poetic rather than sociological or political.

Born in 1941, Guzmán initially pursued advertising before studying filmmaking in Chile and later in Madrid. His major breakthrough came in the early 1970s with the completion of “The Battle of Chile,” a comprehensive documentary trilogy capturing the intense political upheaval leading to and following the military coup. The films portray the brutal repression of the period, including graphic footage such as the death of camera operator Leonardo Henrichsen, who was fatally shot by soldiers while filming.

Assisted by French filmmaker Chris Marker, who provided essential resources and support, Guzmán finished “The Battle of Chile” in exile, with its three parts released between 1975 and 1979. The films—“The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie,” “The Coup d’État,” and “Popular Power”—have been widely praised for their powerful visual narrative of the era’s volatility and violence. During the coup period, Guzmán himself was arrested and later released, though others involved in the project faced harsher fates; cinematographer Jorge Müller and his partner Carmen Bueno were detained, tortured, and disappeared in 1974.

After decades in exile, Guzmán returned to Chile in the mid-1990s, a journey he documented in “Chile, Obstinate Memory.” He continued to chronicle the nation’s reckoning with its past in “The Pinochet Case” (2001), reflecting on the arrest of Pinochet in London in 1998.

In later years, Guzmán shifted his focus toward exploring Chile’s history through its landscapes and metaphysical themes, producing a trilogy starting in 2010 that includes “Nostalgia for the Light,” “The Pearl Button,” and “The Cordillera of Dreams.” These films examine collective memory and the enduring scars of dictatorship against the backdrop of Chile’s natural environment. His final film, “My Imaginary Country,” premiered in 2022, documenting the widespread protests that swept Chile in 2019.

Guzmán’s body of work remains a significant contribution to documentary filmmaking and the global understanding of Chile’s complex political legacy.