A death announced in Santiago

Chilean film-maker Sebastián Lelio has died at the age of 52, news that his partner, Amalia Kassai, shared on Instagram. She did not name a cause, writing in Spanish that it was a painful time for his family. According to Chilean media, he died at his home in Las Condes, Santiago.

From documentary debut to international breakthrough

Lelio was born in Argentina and arrived in Chile as a two-year-old. After a single year studying journalism, he completed film school and began making films in the early 2000s:

• •The 9/11 documentary Cero came out in 2003.
• •The Sacred Family, his first narrative feature, screened at the San Sebastián film festival in 2005.
• •Christmas, released in 2009, premiered at Cannes.
• •2013's Gloria, which follows a woman in her late 50s re-entering the dating world, played at Berlin, where its star Paulina García won an acting award - and gave him his major international breakthrough.

The Oscar and its reach in Chile

The director was best known for the trans drama A Fantastic Woman, which became the first Chilean film to take the Oscar for best international feature. Reviewing the film with five stars, Peter Bradshaw called it "a sublime study in the exalted ordeal of grief".

Lelio also described its impact at home. "When we released it in 2017, a gender identity bill had been dormant in congress for seven years," he recalled in 2018, saying the release helped reactivate discussion in Chile.

English-language films and the final work

With Disobedience, a London-set queer love story between women played by Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams, Lelio moved into English-language cinema; it earned five British independent film award nominations. He then remade Gloria as Gloria Bell with Julianne Moore in an American setting, and adapted Emma Donoghue's novel The Wonder with Florence Pugh to critical acclaim.

"I love working with actors, and need to know they trust me and can explore, get lost, be foolish or brave, and I'll take care of them," he told the Guardian, adding: "I love working on set – it is where the sparkle is."

"Making a film is like a gift you leave somewhere – you then hide and see what happens," he said.

The Wave, a musical protest drama that premiered at Cannes, was his final film, released in 2025. No cause of death has been given.