Filmographies - films at UST by Country: Bolivia

When a cargo of toxic waste from abroad is discovered in a small Andean village, the government decides to surreptitiously move it via an old train. However, the ragtag group carrying the load -- an ambitious police captain, an old anarchist train conductor, three policemen and a runaway girl -- are confronted by a population savvy to their plot. Three days turns to three weeks, the press turns it into a media scandal, and the government turns its back on them. The group is forced to deal with their fate

After suffering a heart attack, retired General José Mendieta is haunted by his dark past as an officer in Operation Condor, the CIA-backed campaign of political repression in Latin America that was responsible for executions, torture, and imprisonments in the 1970s. In a letter to his son Pablo, Mendieta confesses the role he played in the abduction, persecution, and execution of countless men and women during his posting to Chile.

In this film-within-a-film, director Sebastián heads to Cochabamba, Bolivia, to shoot a film about Christopher Columbus's trespasses in the New World, only to find the locals protesting present-day exploitation of the poor. Sebastián is sympathetic to the cause, but realities collide when lead actor Daniel, cast as a rebel against the Spanish, becomes a key figure in the current demonstrations.

Idealistic filmmaker Sebastian ... and his cynical producer Costa ... arrive in Bolivia to make a revisionist film about Christopher Columbus' conquest of the Americas. But as filming commences, the local citizens begin to riot in protest against a multi-national corporation that is taking control of their water supply. With the film shoot in jeopardy, both men find their convictions shaken. Inspired by the real-life Water Wars in Bolivia in the year 2000.

Wars of the future will be fought over water, as they are today over oil, as the source of all life enters the global marketplace and political arena. Corporate giants, private investors, and corrupt governments vie for control of our dwindling fresh water supply, prompting protests, lawsuits, and revolutions from citizens fighting for the right to survive. Past civilizations have collapsed from poor water management. Will ours too?

The duration and scope of the 19th century Latin American wars for independence dwarf all other conflicts in the New World up until that time. This program enhanced by period paintings, engravings, maps, and documents from The John Carter Brown Library's Bromsen collection and other esteemed collections of Latin Americana tells the remarkable life story of Simon Bolivar, founder of Bolivia and liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru from Spanish colonial rule. Although his dream of Latin American unity was not realized in his lifetime, Bolivar's passion for independence lives on.

In poverty-stricken Bolivia, ten percent of children are undernourished. Average school attendance is less than seven years. Entrenched vested interests hamper foreign investment in the economy, and its landlocked geography limits access to export markets. But there are signs of change. Annual inflation has fallen since 1998, an its external debt has been substantially eased under new programs. Bolivian Blues explores the success of a new initiative designed to coordinate the work of donor agencies and focus outside aid on achieving real poverty reduction.

In recent years Bolivia has been ruled by competing political forces, with the indigenous coca growers' union becoming an unexpected powerhouse. Among the leaders of the coca farmers, or cocaleros, is ex-congressman Evo Morales. Morales, a former coca farmer with indigenous peasant roots, rose up to political power in 2002 in order to defend the coca growers from the Bolivian military's crop eradication program, a program being pursued primarily as a result of pressure from the United States. This program profiles Morales and presents the complexities of a drug-based economy, and the difficulty of finding suitable replacement crops to support the families presently supported by coca.

In recent years Bolivia has been ruled by competing political forces, with the indigenous coca growers' union becoming an unexpected powerhouse. Among the leaders of the coca farmers, or cocaleros, is ex-congressman Evo Morales. Morales, a former coca farmer with indigenous peasant roots, rose up to political power in 2002 in order to defend the coca growers from the Bolivian military's crop eradication program, a program being pursued primarily as a result of pressure from the United States. This program profiles Morales and presents the complexities of a drug-based economy, and the difficulty of finding suitable replacement crops to support the families presently supported by coca.

In 2006, Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian, became the first indigenous president of Bolivia--winning the election with the largest majority in the country's history. Cocalero is a captivating portrait of this controversial figure and his astonishing rise to power. In recent years, the U.S. government, working with Bolivian authorities, has attempted to stem the flow of cocaine from Bolivia by eradicating the country's coca crop--essentially directing its devastating war on drugs against the country's indigenous farmers. To protect their livelihood, the farmers formed a union and elected as their leader, an unknown, unwavering, and unpretentious socialist named Evo Morales. A story of geopolitics, people's movements, Indigenous culture, and one man's impressive determination, Cocalero chronicles Morales' historic presidential campaign, getting up close and personal with the candidate and the union organization backing him.

The story of 14 year-old Basilio Vargas and his 12 year-old brother Bernardino as they work in the Bolivian silver mines of Cerro Rico (Potosí). Abandoning their Catholic beliefs, Cerro Rico miners believe that Satan, as represented by hundreds of statues constructed in the mines, determines whether they live or die there.

Investigates the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply from the perspective of politics, economics, pollution and environmental issues, human rights, public health, and the effects of corporate greed and apathetic governments. Features interviews with scientists and activists, who discuss the water crisis at both the global and human scale. Also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies to address the problem.

Joins David Harrison and Gregory Anderson, scientists racing to document languages on the verge of extinction. In Siberia, India and Bolivia, David and Greg's resolve is tested by the very forces stifling languages: institutionalized racism and violent economic unrest. The scientists must overcome their own fears and preconceived notions to draw speakers from decades of silence. Their journey takes them deep into the heart of the cultures, knowledge, and communities at stake.

Updated with scenes from April 2000, a documentary on major criticisms of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), two of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. Five country case studies are presented, each concentrating on a different aspect of the critics' charges.

Follows James Carville, Jeremy Rosner and a team of political consultants as they launch a media-savvy campaign for Bolivian presidential candidate Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. With unprecedented access to think sessions, media training and the making of smear campaigns, witness a shocking example of America 'spreading democracy' overseas and its earth-shattering aftermath.

A rare and thorough look at the earth's largest salt flat, Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, [this film] is a poetic journey through the eyes of Moises Chambi Yucra, one of the last remaining salt gatherers. This secluded region is thrust into the future when Bolivia embarks on a plan to extract a precious mineral from the Salar and to build an infrastructure that will connect it to the modern world. ... While salt is precious to Moises, the untapped lithium beneath the Salar--estimated to be half the planet's supply--has captured the imagination of industrial powers across the globe. If it can be extracted, experts say, the lithium will make Bolivia 'the Saudi Arabia of the 21st century.

A documentary that tells the story of how the Afro-Bolivian community uses music as a form of resistance and empowerment. The film explores the little known story of the legacy of the Africans who first arrived as slaves in the Spanish colonial region that would later become Bolivia. Traditional Saya songs were one way that Afro-Bolivians began sharing the stories of their ancestors and their culture, while demanding recognition as members of Bolivian society.

Director Oliver Stone visits seven presidents in five countries in South America to gain some understanding about the political and social ideas and the revolutions, and to clear up how people view them. Includes interviews with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, Argentinean president Cristina Kirchner, Cuban president Raul Castro, Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Rafael Carrea (Ecuador), and Fernando Lugo (Paraguay).

Global corporations are rapidly buying up local water supplies, and communities face losing control of one of their most precious resources. Examines tensions in Cochabamba, Bolivia; Rajasthan, India; and Stockton, California, revealing how water is becoming the catalyst for explosive community resistance to globalization. A critical look at the conflict between public stewardship and private profit, in which activists claim that water is a human right and corporations declare it a commodity.