British actress Florence Pugh shared a deeply emotional farewell to Chilean director Sebastián Lelio on Instagram, recalling their close bond during the production of the 2022 film The Wonder and stating that she has “a broken heart” following his sudden death at age 52.
The Chilean government subsequently declared official national mourning for Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8, honoring a filmmaker whose career reached a historic milestone when Una mujer fantástica won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 2017.
The Core Facts of Lelio’s Sudden Passing
- Sebastián Lelio died at his residence in Las Condes on Friday at the age of 52, prompting an official two-day national mourning period decreed by the Chilean government.
- Florence Pugh shared a tribute on Instagram detailing their creative relationship on The Wonder, marked by shared dinners in Dublin featuring red wine and slow-cooked meats.
- At the time of his passing, Lelio was in the final stages of shooting an adaptation of Alejandro Zambra’s novel Poeta chileno, following his 2025 local release La Ola.
Pugh posted a photograph alongside the director, noting that she had spent days processing the news. According to BioBioChile, the actress praised Lelio’s dedication to female stories, describing him as a man who was “firmly on our side” and possessed “bright, luminous blue eyes that looked straight into your soul.”
The actress also shared memories of their dinners in Dublin during the filming of The Wonder, where they bonded over food and wine. She revealed that shortly before learning of his death, she had prepared a special cut of meat and a bottle of red wine while thinking of him.
The wider film community also paid tribute to the director over the weekend. Julianne Moore, who starred in Lelio’s 2018 drama Gloria Bell, offered condolences to the filmmaker’s family and partner, Amalia Kassai, as reported by La Tercera. Kassai confirmed Lelio’s passing on behalf of his family and later shared a personal tribute on Instagram.
Sebastián Lelio Established His Creative Center in Berlin
During seven years, Berlin operated as the operational center for Sebastián Lelio. In the city he not only created new projects like Una mujer fantástica and Disobedience, but he also opened the Gloria bar, named in honor of his acclaimed 2013 film starring Paulina García.
Amid a crowded night at the bar during the Berlinale, Lelio took a photograph of Amalia Kassai that he sent to her via email, an interaction that gained profound meaning years later when they established themselves as a couple and later married in 2019 after a series of random events.
Reflecting his lifelong nomadic traits, Lelio never stayed in the same place for more than three years as a child—moving through Viña del Mar, Concepción, the United States, and at age 12, Cholguán, an hour away from Chillán. After swapping his journalism studies for cinema, he found a mentor in Carlos Flores, adopting his cervantine maxim of Ataque irreflexivo, retroceso metódico
and preferring to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
Initially signing his work as Sebastián Campos when he shook up digital Chilean production with La sagrada familia in 2005, Lelio also wrote poetry, which Mauricio Redolés celebrated, and once went out onto the streets of Santiago in 2002 with a minimal crew to film city life over 24 continuous hours.
| Film Title | Release Year | Key Accolades & Production Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gloria | 2013 | Starred Paulina García; later remade by Lelio as Gloria Bell starring Julianne Moore. |
| Una mujer fantástica | 2017 | Won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, a historic first for Chile. |
| The Wonder | 2022 | Netflix psychological period drama directed by Lelio and starring Florence Pugh. |
| La Ola / Poeta chileno | 2025–2026 | Marked Lelio’s return to large-scale Chilean productions, with Poeta chileno in active production at his passing. |
Lelio’s career spanned more than two decades, establishing him as a global voice in contemporary cinema through works exploring identity, dignity, and resilience. His wake was held at the Cineteca Nacional de Chile inside the Centro Cultural La Moneda, ahead of a private funeral ceremony at Parque del Recuerdo.
Te amo en esta vida y en todas las que vendrán
