Echando Raíces
In 1946, a group of Latvian Brazilian Baptist missionaries arrived to Rincon del Tigre (“Jaguar’s Corner”), in the backwoods of Bolivia, to preach God’s word to the Ayoreo Indians. After sixty years of selfless work in a largely hostile environment, something seems to have gone terribly wrong. Habituated to living under the protective wings of the mission, the Ayoreos seem neither to be willing to support themselves and start living on their own, nor able to return to their traditional way of life in the jungle. Dressed in second-hand clothes, they are stranded in the backwoods of Western-style civilization, with no particular way to go.
Based on the documentary "Our Brand Is Crisis", this feature focuses on the use of American political campaign strategies in South America.
Three friends decide to find one of the worlds most powerful drugs. And ingest it. A gonzo documentary that takes you to and beyond the edge of the world.
Bernd, an insurance broker trainee, flees his mundane life in Germany to set a new World record in hang gliding in Bolivia.
As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.
The story of the friendship between a truck driver and a shoeshine boy who occasionally becomes his assistant when they travel together from the agro-industrial area of Santa Cruz to the high Andean basin of La Paz in a truck named "Mi Socio".
His buildings are garish, colorful and completely overloaded. Columns and glittering chandeliers everywhere, and way too much of everything. The Bolivian civil engineer and architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre (*1971) builds houses in El Alto for a nouveau riche upper class of the Aymara, the largest indigenous ethnic group in Bolivia.
Photography trip to Bolivia filmed with a rostrum camera and edited with original sounds from the country.
In December of 2002, McDonald's had to shut down their restaurants in Bolivia. The company cited financial problems, but the real reasons were to be found elsewhere. Bolivia may be a small, poor nation on the global market, but a country's fierce local food culture can be sometimes a more powerful factor than economic clout. In his first feature-length documentary, Fernando Martinez shows what happened, a story driven by the characters behind the events and their life stories, such as renowned cooks and a review of popular sayings about the Bolivian food. The symbolism is obvious when a multinational giant is 'brought to its knees' by a country's traditions and heritage.
Santa, an eight-year-old girl from the desolate Bolivian Altiplano, embarks on a rollercoaster journey to take her mother from a life of misery into paradise. The two of them made a pact: when her mother passes, the girl would follow the stars and carry her body across the desert toward heaven, a place they are certain is physically real. Crossing the wilderness, Santa encounters a group of female wrestlers that help her on her way. Also, a gruff policeman who arrests Santa but soon suspects she has magical powers. He decides that to achieve his own salvation he must join Santa on her quest beyond the horizon.
L'Autre pays
Images of Argentinian companies and factories in the first light of day, seen from the inside of a car, while the director reads out documents in voiceover that reveals the collusion of the same concerns in the military dictatorship’s terror.
Sortir la spiritualité autochtone de la clandestinité
Young bootblack Tupah embarks on a frantic quest to find his uncle, Jacinto, lost in the Averno. In a dangerous journey through the underworld, myth and reality get endlessly intertwined and the death-loaded night in La Paz unveils the darkest and most surreal face of the imaginary of the Andes.
Are tourists destroying the planet-or saving it? How do travelers change the remote places they visit, and how are they changed? From the Bolivian jungle to the party beaches of Thailand, and from the deserts of Timbuktu, Mali to the breathtaking beauty of Bhutan, GRINGO TRAILS traces stories over 30 years to show the dramatic long-term impact of tourism on cultures, economies, and the environment.
Bolivia has the world's largest deposits of lithium, a metal that is essential for the energy transition. Without lithium, no electricity storage facility, no data centre, no electric car, no smartphone would work. The Europeans want the raw material to save their automotive industry. The Bolivians want it to combat poverty. While the Bolivian government negotiates with corporations from around the world, civil society groups are mobilising in rural areas, organised mainly by women. The film offers a rare insight into the Europeans' strategy to secure the sought-after material and carves out the conflicting interests towards extractivism and industrialisation in Bolivia.
Garras: El diablo y Dios están de vacaciones
Danger, toil, and superstition pervade life in a mining town high up in the Bolivian mountains. Tin is the heartbeat of the community providing jobs and livelihoods - but at considerable cost. With deaths commonplace, people make offerings to El Tio, the devil under the earth, for protection and good fortune. But when the mountain's flow of tin ebbs, further measures must be taken...
This romantic drama focuses on the romance between a 14-year-old mathematics genius and a 19-year-old All-American volleyball player.