FILM
Ukamau (And So It Is)
Jorge Sanjinés
Bolivia, 1966
DVD (35mm). 75min. Black and white16:30h
Audiorio CCCBProduction: Nicanor Jordán Castedo
Photography: Hugo Roncal & Genaro Sanjinés
Editor: Jorge Sanjinés
Screenplay: Jorge Sanjinés & Óscar Soria
Music: Alberto Villalpando
Actors: Elsa Antequera, Néstor Cárdena, Benedicta Huanca, Benedicta Mendoza, Néstor Peredo, Vicente Verneros SalinasSinopsis: This film is an allegory on the defence of indigenous power and sovereignty. Unleashed by the rape and murder of Andrés Mayta's wife at the hands of Ramos, the drama reaches its climax after a year of patient, calculated waiting in the day of revenge. This will take the form of a duel to the death in which the Aymara Andrés challenges the mixed-race Ramos to a hand-to-hand fight. Andrés, representing an oppressed people and race whose fortunes have always been in the hands of the colonisers and their descendents, turns the tables on the murderer and it's he who sets down the rules of the game, challenging Ramos to build his own future should he survive the duel.
Bio: Jorge Sanjinés (La Paz, 1937) is an arts graduate from the University of La Paz and studied film at the University of Chile. He made his first feature film, Ukamau, with backing from the Bolivian Film Institute, of which he has been director since 1965. He is one of the founders of Grupo Ukamau, which has been producing and making films for the last 40 years with a key aim: to play a part in the struggle of the most impoverished sectors in Bolivian society and at the same time raise awareness in Bolivian society about the cultural values of the country's indigenous majority.
