My Life with Carlos was co-written by Joaquim Jordà who, with his ideas, films and commitment as a teacher, was one of the driving forces behind the Pompeu Fabra master's degree programme in documentary film making until his death in 2006. The director, German Berger-Hertz, has been affiliated with that programme since 1997. His second full-length feature on 35mm tells the story of the journey of a son looking for a lost father; it is the layered and personal story of the family of the film maker - and also of a country that has to confront the horror of the past. German's father, Carlos, was murdered in Chile, while his mother is the prominent human-rights lawyer Carmen Hertz.
The documentary has the emotions of an intimate melodrama and the thriller-like tension of a puzzle, in which the medium of film forces everyone, including the maker, to confront the past.