Photographer's note: © MaxPixel
VIDALA and Documentary Cinema
The composition of the repertoire was strongly inspired by numerous documentaries that VIDALA likes to offer for screening before or after the concert, in resonance with the message of the "Nueva Cancion". Crossing perspectives, encouraging discovery, developing critical thinking, and sparking debate and exchange are at the heart of our aspirations and our tours.
“Voces cel callejon, ser afro peruano en Lima”
by Sophie Bonnin, 2009, 52 mins - French documentary film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLzDGuCiASY
Created by Sophie Bonnin, author of the paintings and the visualization work for our creation "Una historia americana", "Voces del callejón" portrays the members of El Milenio, an extraordinary music group. They are Afro-Peruvian and play music that is both traditional and contemporary, mixing jazz and African rhythms, and bringing to life the heritage of their ancestors, those slaves once brought from Africa. Through music, they recount their suffering in the face of racism and poverty, expressing their demands with force and melancholy.
This documentary is aimed at a wide audience, taking them far from the Andean cliché. It also appeals to music lovers as well as those interested in the history of music, in Peru, the Latin American continent and its traditions. In the 21st century, the legacy of slavery persists in Latin America. The presence of the Afro-Peruvian people is insufficiently known in Europe and few documentaries have been made on this theme.
"Every day at night"
by Jean-Claude Wicky, 2009, 60 mins - Documentary film Switzerland Bolivia
Among these documentaries is Jean Claude Wicky's "Tous les jours, la Nuit." For 10 years, Jean Claude Wicky followed Bolivian miners who, day after day, descend into the mines in search of tin. They work 24 hours a day and often their lives do not exceed 45 years. Every day, their work represents a danger and every day their partner awaits their return. The Bolivian government has never structured work in the mines and in the era of new technologies, these men have almost no income, no opportunity for medical care, no moment of peace and rest. Often, their children follow the same path... it is an ordeal that is repeated. The testimonies collected by Jean Claude Wicky are both touching and revolting and provoke a profound reflection on the condition of men in certain parts of the world. Certain sentences, taken from their testimonies, perfectly sum up their conditions and are the subject of a poignant collection of photographs called “Mineros” published by Actes Sud.
The story of the dignity of the wretched of the earth. A forgotten world in the depths of the Bolivian Andes, rich in minerals of all kinds. Photographer Jean-Claude Wicky extends his photographic work on Bolivian miners with a documentary film. Miners and miners' widows tell us about their daily lives. The film also addresses historical and social aspects and illustrates the harsh reality of the miners, their dignity, their pride, their culture and their very much alive traditions. Mixing filmed sequences and photos, the film takes viewers into the depths of the earth, where the miners confront the rock and entrust themselves to the devil himself, where lungs are charred, where voices seem to come from the past, where there are more words in the looks than in any voice, where naked bodies are sculptures carved by life but where we can already sense the veins of death. A look full of humanity at a labor devoid of it.
Two other documentaries will now accompany us on the road:
Nostalgia de la luz / Nostalgia for light
by Patricio Guzman, 2010, 90 mins - Franco-Chilean documentary film
In Chile, at an altitude of 3,000 meters, astronomers from all over the world gather in the Atacama Desert to observe the stars. The sky is so transparent that it allows them to see to the farthest reaches of the universe. It is also a place where the dryness of the soil preserves intact human remains: those of mummies, explorers, and miners. But also, the bones of the dictatorship's political prisoners. While astronomers scrutinize the most distant galaxies in search of possible extraterrestrial life, at the foot of the observatories, women move stones, searching for their missing relatives...
Rehje
by Anais Huerta and Raul Cuesta, 2009, 70 mins - Documentary
Awarded several international festivals, this documentary tells the story of Rehje, a Mazahua woman. After living for forty years in Mexico City, she returns to her village. She did not expect the living conditions of the inhabitants of the community where she was born, undermined by the lack of water. The filmmakers explore the issues of Indianness, the status of women, and rural exodus, which are intertwined through Rehje's personal story.