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Julio 06, 2005
Bolivian Movies
Bolivia is not known for its cinematic accomplishments. Every year, 2-3 new movies are released to a limited audience and to not much fanfare. Even a strong dose of nationalism cannot drum up business for these films. It seems that there is often more buzz over these “foreign” films around the world than there are in Bolivia itself.
Both Almada and Alexey discuss some new films being released, including one that focuses on a family from Vallegrande where Che Guevara was executed.
Finding Bolivian movies in Bolivia is quite a feat, as most teenagers and most adults, for that matter, go wild for the big-budget Hollywood flicks. My cousins and I went to Cine Norte in Cochabamba to see the low-budget Carnaval flick “Esito Será”. My younger cousin ran into some of his old high school classmates. When they asked him what film, he was seeing it was almost if he was embarrassed to say that he was seeing the film that I dragged him to, while his friends were ready for some shoot-em-up action sci-fi film.
Finding Bolivian films on the bootlegged market is also difficult. Burned DVDs go for about two dollars, but most likely there is not much of a market for Bolivian films. You always see the Spiderman/Batman/Godzilla movies selling like hotcakes, and most likely the bootleggers don't see much of a market for a perceived "inferior" local movie.
One of the most respected director is Jorge Sanjines who helped created the film group Ukamau. Some say that he tightly guards when and where his films are shown. Part of that stems from fear of bootlegging, which not only takes some of his royalties, but reduces the overall quality once a movie is repeatedly copied.
I was curious to see one of his films, “La Nacíon Clandestina” at a youth group meeting which regularly shows videos. Somehow the group had gotten a copy of the movie recorded from German television. Normally the movie's dialogue is Aymara, with Spanish subtitles. However, since the recording’s source came from German television, the subtitles were also in that language. Consequently I could not follow much of the story plot. The next day, I had to ask my Anthropology professor what the movie was about.
Anyway, somehow representatives of Sanjines got word that his movie was being shown unauthorized at a small gathering. Almost immediately they received a “cease and desist” fax. Normally a discussion would follow the movies shown, but since most in attendance did not speak Aymara nor German, a lot of the discussion focused on copyright laws and whether Sanjines should like that people want to see his work or whether he has a right to control that.
For a good resource page of Bolivian movies, directors and festivals, visit this website: From Bolivia.
Posted by eduardo at Julio 6, 2005 09:43 PM
Comments
Yes there isn't a place to get Bolivian made movies. I have been looking for such a place over here in Germany. Latino culture is big in this country. I tell you, some Germans are way more well versed in Latino culture than I am.
Posted by: Miguel at Julio 7, 2005 03:41 AM
Oops! You made a typo, it is Alexey, not Alexy.
Nice site that frombolivia, thanks for the link. Also, interesting situation with Jorge Sanjines. I didn't know he held such a tight grip on his productions. Once i had the oportunity to meet him, he went to my ex-job where an ex-colleague knew him. They projected Ukamau and discussed for a long time about it. I was too busy to participate at the time :(.
Posted by: Alexey at Julio 7, 2005 04:14 AM
Corrected, Alexey
Posted by: eduardo at Julio 7, 2005 09:52 PM
This is documentary movie that takes place in Bolivia but it is not out at theathers is about a 14 year old miner in Bolivia. http://imdb.com/title/tt0441001/
Posted by: none at Julio 15, 2005 10:41 PM
do you know any websites that concentrate on Bolivian or Latin American films? I have been searching for one.
Thanks in advance
Posted by: John Lujan at Julio 4, 2006 01:58 AM
There is a new documentary on Bolivia's 2002 election by Rachel Boynton. It has won many awards and tells about the making of Goni's campaing and the involvement of american political consultants. The film is "Our Brand is Crisis." It will be available for purchase in September 2006. Here is the info:
http://www.kochlorberfilms.com/Theatrical/infopage.aspx?Id=16
Posted by: ani at Julio 12, 2006 05:45 PM