Ciclo de cine
La revolución Inca / La Jefa

Dir. Rodrigo Vazquez, Bolivia, 52 min., 2007 / Daniel Junge, Liberia, 52 min., 2007

Mar, 20.02.2018
20:00 Goethe-Institut Mexiko

La revolución Inca

Under pressure from voters, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, former coca-leaf farmer Evo Morales, nationalized the oil industry and initiated agrarian reforms. The film paints a portrait of two women who support the president’s bid for office from one of the country’s poverty-stricken regions and succeed in mobilizing the indigenous electorate. Jiovana Navia, an activist from the women’s employment initiative “Plane”, who will be elected to parliament with Morales, and Estera Encina, who functions as Jiovana’s right hand and maintains contact with the grassroots level.

The film shows female political activists in Bolivia from 2005 to 2007 as they struggle through the daily challenges of democracy, hindered by a lack of firsthand experience in parliamentary business and the remnants of the old system which still linger, including corruption, nepotism and populism. When Jiovana Navia is elected to parliament with Morales, her indigenous constituents have extremely high expectations. However, the political processes are slow-moving and vetoed by the Senate. Newly-elected MP Jiovana lacks parliamentary experience and her political leverage proves weaker than she and her supporters would have imagined. “Streetfighter” Jiovana is a gifted political speaker on the streets and on the campaign trail and exudes kind-hearted warmth and empathy when speaking to the women of her disadvantaged neighbourhood. However, she is not well-versed in the workings of parliamentary democracy, positioning herself in the party limelight, parliamentary networking, dividing and pushing through local objectives in the city, and obtaining information. If nothing else, this great communicator initially struggles to communicate over distances while sustaining a level of closeness, to maintain contact with her constituency and female electorate from within the parliamentary world. This leads to conflict between the grassroots level, who want to see immediate change but are still going hungry, and their representative in parliament who is giving her all but for too long has failed to bring about decisive change… Will she manage to make her mark after all?


About the director

RODRIGO VAZQUEZ trained at the National Film and Television School in the UK, specializing in directing and camera for documentary films. He also obtained a BA in Film Directing and Film Theory from the Universidad del Cine in Argentina and a diploma in Film Production from Argentina’s National Film School. Rodrigo has worked on numerous feature films and documentaries as director and cameraman, including “Condor: The Axis of Evil” (2003), which had its world premiere in Cannes. He has also directed documentaries for the UK’s Channel 4, including four films for the channel’s award-winning foreign affairs series, “Unreported World”.

   

Iron Ladies of Liberia

A look at what goes on behind the scenes in the newly-elected Liberian government under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who became the first freely-elected female head of state in Africa on 16 January 2006. The film follows the unusual politician through her everyday life and her immensely difficult political position. It accompanies her on her quest to bring civil law to a corrupt country, trust and reliability into capricious relationships, political stability and the rule of law into the unlawful chaos of a society still suffering from the impact of a devastating civil war.

Liberia’s newly-elected president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, also appointed other strong women to leading positions, including the Ministers for Justice and Finance and the Chief of the Police. Will they manage to bring democracy and peace to this devastated country? Will she be able to create better living conditions for her disgruntled workers without risking the outbreak of more violence? How will she deal with the returning soldiers who are claiming their right to pay and pensions? How will she overcome the problem of drug traffickers who take over public spaces and turn them into hubs for illegal drug dealing? Will she be able to convince her donor countries to cancel her debt-ridden country’s repayments? Will she make use of China’s newly-found influence over Africa to boost the development of Liberia? What will her policies be when it comes to the global superpower of the USA?


About the directors

In 2003, the magazine “Filmmaker” named the director DANIEL JUNGE one of the most significant 25 up-and-coming directors. Junge made his feature-length debut with the film “Chiefs”, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, clinching the prize for Best Documentary. It was subsequently aired throughout the US on the channel PBS. He also won four regional Emmy awards for “Common Good” (2005), a six-part series on social entrepreneurs.

Co-Director SIATTA SCOTT JOHNSON was born in Buchanan, Liberia in 1974 and grew up in the rural Grand Bassa County. She spent five years as a reporter and producer at DCTV, one of Liberia’s few television stations. She is also a founding member of Omuahtee Africa Media.