Echoes and Horizons:Contemporary Bolivian Cinema
10 JANUARY - 21 FEBRUARY 2025 | The Garden Cinema
Cinema Mentiré presents a collection of recent Bolivian films at The Garden Cinema (39-41 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PQ)
On the occasion of the Bicentenary of Bolivia’s independence in 2025, join Cinema Mentiré and The Garden Cinema to explore a hand-picked selection of recent gems that testify to the prosperity of Bolivian cinema in the last decade. Cinema Mentiré has brought together three very different feature-length films that offer a taste of the new, groundbreaking narratives exploring a changing nation that is also dealing with its enduring past traumas. The programme kicks off with The Visitor, a quietly scathing reflection on power, manipulation and fractured family ties, winner of the Best Screenplay Award at Tribeca. It will be followed by the first-person documentary Puerto Escondido, a playful meditation on Bolivia’s relationship with a lost sea, including geopolitical conflicts and other sensitive hydropolitical issues. Chaco, premiered at Rotterdam and Bolivia’s official submission to the Academy Awards, transports us to wartime, through the experience of a platoon that wanders in the immensity of the landscape amidst the contradictions of any armed conflict, delving into the B side of an epic national narrative. The season also presents a fun-filled selection of animated short films by the collective BOMBA Animada, displaying the rich cultural heritage and artistic expressions of Bolivian animation and storytelling, in an event designed for the whole family.
Friday, 10th January, 8pm
THE VISITOR
EL VISITANTE
Dir. Martín Boulocq, 2022, Bolivia/Uruguay, 86 min
After recently being released from prison, Humberto makes a modest living by singing at wakes. His greatest desire is to rebuild his relationship with his estranged daughter and provide her with a decent life, but the child’s grandparents – wealthy Evangelical pastors – are not willing to give up custody of their only granddaughter. Bullied into a corner financially and ideologically, Humberto is forced to face his own demons while simultaneously fighting a powerful ecclesiastical institution to which he once belonged.
Set in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, The Visitor is a sombre meditation on class, family relationships, and the increasing power of Evangelism in Latin America, reflecting on the region’s persisting legacies of colonialism and the new forms of ideological dependence guiding Bolivian society.
London Premiere
Saturday, 25th January, 6pm
PUERTO ESCONDIDO
Dir. Gabriela Paz Ybarnegaray, 2020, Bolivia/Chile, 76 min
In 1879, Bolivia lost its access to the sea in a war. When the director Gabriela Paz was a child, she did not understand how Bolivia had lost the sea – she thought the Chileans had taken it in buckets, but at the end of the day, they felt lazy and left a piece, which is nowadays Lake Titicaca.
Puerto Escondido is a travel itinerary towards interior landscapes, myths, characters and contradictions in a country that every day remembers this loss. It is also a kind of letter to a sibling country, offering a current perspective on the aftermath of the Pacific War and how it was experienced in private and public spaces, mixing family archives and official sources. In this film, many extraordinary, peculiar stories will not go unnoticed and reflect Bolivia’s insatiable thirst for the sea.
UK Premiere
Special film introduction by film researcher Laís Lorenço (University of Campinas - UNICAMP, Brazil & University College London - UCL, UK).
Saturday, 8th February, and Sunday, 9th February, 11am: Films for the Family
BOMBA ANIMATED SHORTS
Various directors from BOMBA Animada, Bolivia, 54min
A collection of shorts by BOMBA Animada, a Bolivian animation studio showcasing female animators’ work. Created in 2023 to make their work visible, BOMBA seeks to develop alliances inside and outside Bolivia to strengthen the voices of both individuals and as part of a united group. Their diverse techniques range from stop motion and drawing to pixelling and digital animation. Their films often reflect their cultural identity, folk stories, and imaginative storytelling. Their members organise workshops, talks, and screenings, also offering fundraising guidance and financial support. They share their experience to inspire and demonstrate to Bolivian women that making a career in animation in the country is possible.
Films:
AJLLA UMILLA, dir. Alexandra Ramirez
DUBICEL, dir. Yashira Jordán
THE JIPIJAPA WEAVERS | LAS TEJEDORAS DE JIPIJAPA, dir. Clara Chacón
GRAVITY | GRAVEDAD, dir. Matisse Gonzalez
CHILLINA, dir. Andy Garnica
PASKAY, dir. Andrea Estéfany Caballero
THE TUNNEL AND THE COB | EL TÚNEL Y LA MAZORCA, dir. Alexandra Ramirez
WATERSHED TALES | CUENTOS DE LA CUENCA, dir. Andy Garnica
Open to all ages, these will be relaxed screenings, meaning light and sound distractions are expected, and attendees are free to move around.
On Sunday, the film will be followed by a free fun and creative activity for children.
These events are Pay What You Can, which means you’re free to pay as much or as little as you can afford.
Saturday, 21st February, 8pm
CHACO
Dir. Diego Mondaca, 2020, Bolivia/Argentina, 80min
Set in 1934, during the Chaco War fought between Bolivia and Paraguay, this spare historical drama follows a small regiment made up of Aymara and Quechua Indigenous soldiers commanded by a retired, gruff German officer fighting for the Bolivian Army. The troop is in a limbo, looking fruitlessly for the enemy, and wandering through the hostile, semi-arid lowlands in extreme weather. Isolation, despair and hunger grow with every day, every hellish march and hastily erected camp.
Pitched somewhere between the bone-dry absurdism of Lucrecia Martel’s Zama and the minimalist drone of Lisandro Alonso’s Los muertos, and inspired by the experiences of his grandfather, director Diego Mondaca’s debut feature is a powerful meditation on the futility and absurdity of war.
UK Premiere
Programme supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London.
Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery.
