Chilean film-maker Sebasti\u00e1n Lelio has died at the age of 52.<\/p>\n
He was best known for the Oscar-winning trans drama A Fantastic Woman<\/a> and his English-language films included Gloria Bell and The Wonder.<\/p>\n His partner Amalia Kassai announced<\/a> his death on Instagram without specifying the cause of death but telling followers, in Spanish, that it was a painful time for his family. Chilean media reports<\/a> that he died at his home in Las Condes, Santiago.<\/p>\n Lelio was born in Argentina but moved to Chile at the age of two. He studied journalism for one year before graduating from film school and then released 9\/11 documentary Cero in 2003. His first narrative film The Sacred Family premiered at the San Sebasti\u00e1n film festival in 2005.<\/p>\n His follow-up, 2009\u2019s Christmas, premiered at Cannes but it was 2013\u2019s Gloria<\/a> that provided him with a major international breakthrough. The drama, about a woman in her late 50s who starts dating again, premiered at Berlin and won its lead star Paulina Garc\u00eda an acting award at the festival.<\/p>\n Lelio followed it up with A Fantastic Woman, a drama about the life of a trans woman, another breakout that became the first Chilean film to win the Oscar for best international feature. In a five-star review, the Guardian\u2019s Peter Bradshaw called<\/a> it \u201ca sublime study in the exalted ordeal of grief\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we released it in 2017, a gender identity bill had been dormant in congress for seven years,\u201d he said in a Guardian interview<\/a> in 2018. \u201cSomehow, the film\u2019s release, and the year in which it became globally known, helped to reactivate the discussion in Chile.\u201d<\/p>\n He made his English language debut with London-set drama Disobedience which told a queer love story between women played by Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams<\/a>. It was nominated for five British independent film awards.<\/p>\n Lelio then remade Gloria as Gloria Bell, then set in America and starring Julianne Moore<\/a> in the lead role. He followed it with a critically acclaimed adaptation of Emma Donoghue\u2019s novel The Wonder starring Florence Pugh.<\/p>\n \u201cI love working with actors, and need to know they trust me and can explore, get lost, be foolish or brave, and I\u2019ll take care of them,\u201d he said to the Guardian. \u201cI love working on set \u2013 it is where the sparkle is.\u201d<\/p>\n His final film was 2025\u2019s The Wave, a musical protest drama that premiered at Cannes.<\/p>\n \u201cMaking a film is like a gift you leave somewhere \u2013 you then hide and see what happens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n