INTERVIEW ON BRAZILIAN RADIO!!

Interview to Ines Von Bonhorst at Oi Fm Radio Station (Sao Paulo Brazil) about the Documentary Tierra Firme.
Language: Portugese

  Oi Fm Sao Paulo Tierra Firme Documentary Interview by rematana

Bogotá

After the classical 13 to 15 hours travel between cities, we finally arrived in Bogotá, drop everything in a hostel for gringos in the central area of La Candelaria and help the guys of Presagio Theatre.

In La Candelaria there’s one of the most important theatre of the entire Latin America: Teatro La Candelaria.

On the same day we arrange a meeting with one of the founders and the most important activist for the human rights in Colombia: Patricia Ariza.

For over 40 years she’s fighting for the right of the women, right for the homeless and against the terrible plague of the “falsos positivos”, which consist in kill an innocent person, afterwards dress him as a guerrillero and denounce him at the police. Thanks to that, the Colombian police and army can demonstrate (in particularly to USA), that the terrorism funds to fight the guerrilla in Colombia are well spent…big bullshit!

Patricia creates theatre plays and street performances with the parents of the victims and actors, performing plays in the poorest barrios of Bogotá and the entire Colombia.

For her stubborn activity against the injustice, 3 years ago the Colombian police condemned her as part of the FARC, which is the biggest guerrilla group. Later, most of the Colombian artists and people from all around the world signed, through a petition, against the absurd verdict of the police.

It’s the 45^th of theatre La Candelaria, a Guinness for an independent theatre company, thanks to their particular method of the “collective creation”. Through this method, all the actors participate at the creation of the theatre play: every member by turn is performing a small play based on the improvisation. After the performance there are meetings to analyze what happened on the stage, which themes has been touched and the possibility to create a final play. The mentor of this method is Santiago Garcia, or how he’s simply called in the theatre: Maestro. Chatting with Santiago is like talking with the past, present and future of the Latin American theatre, with his 83 years old, he’s always at the creation of a new play or ready to perform in an old one. We ask which is his secret, and he reply that the best thing is what make people happy, in his case the love for the theatre.

The play that Teatro La Candelaria is showing is called El Paso (The Pass), which is representing the life in a small village in the Colombian countryside, where everything is apparently quiet, but in a second time with the entrance of two emblematic characters everything change. El Paso is describing how the presence of guerrilla and paramilitaries are deforming and fading the life of Colombia.

This play has got 30 years more or less, but it’s still incredibly recent, nothing has been changed.

Personally, we think that Patricia Ariza, Santiago Garcia and all the actors of theatre La Candelaria are necessary and absolutely important for the life of Colombia, with them we share the same thoughts and ideas, thanks to people as them the world is changing.

Time to go, a new city and a new theatre company is waiting for us: Medellin.

Cali

From Bolivia to Colombia, crossing Peru and Ecuador, buses after buses, got stuck twice. The first time at the border between Bolivia and Peru for a strike, where the inhabitants of a village next to lake Titicaca were protesting against a gold mine opening. The second one just before Lima for another strike, but “quickly”, after 6 hours waiting, we were ready to get a bus for Guadajir, another to Quito, to Ipiales and finally to Cali. On the way to Cali, in the middle of hills and mountains, the bus stopped and the 2 drivers got out and ran in the opposite direction. All the passengers and us were looking at each other, without explanations. Once the drivers completely sweating by the run get back, told to everyone that two big box are missing from the bus, fallen down to a valley.

As soon we arrived to Cali, we met Camilo, actor and producer of the theatre company Teatro del Presagio. We met the company 6 months ago, in London; they were participating at a South American theatre festival. Cali is an incredible mixture of people and culture, from the Caribbean to Pacific coast, from the Andes to Amazonians, as the director of Teatro del Presagio said: it’s a “passage city”, where people from north and south of the country are passing and stopping here for living.

The play of Teatro del Presagio is called “Edipo, acto dramatico en un acto” is the director personal view of Oedipus, based on a contemporary Colombia. The play is really ritualistic: the shadow and the costumes are cleverly used to empathize the text and the sound effect, made by the voice and by the use of didgeridoos.

For the documentary we engage with the urban landscape of Cali, making performances for the camera in different area of the city.

We are heading to Bogotá where on the Thursday they will perform the play “Edipo” in a theatre.

Sucre/Yotala

 Here we are, last days in Bolivia, we arrive nearby Sucre, in a small village called Yotala, where is situated Teatro De Los Andes, one of the most important theatre company in Bolivia. The company, originally created by Cesar Brie, Giampaolo Nalli and Naira Gonzales 20 years ago, is located in a peaceful farm, close to a small river. The theatre works as an art residence and hosts artist from all around the world.

In October of the last year we met in Italy, the Argentinean director Cesar Brie, working on a new play. Cesar is also director of two controversial documentaries, his first one, “Humilliados y Ofendidos” was based on the racist attack of right wing sympathizers against indigenous campesinos, came to the capital Sucre to attend of their president Evo Morales. But with his second documentary "Tahuamanu", he almost risks his life, and all the people close to him, deciding so to move.

The documentary talks upon a pacific manifestation of indigenous farmers, asking more rights for work the land, ended up with people killed even later on at the hospital.

The play of Teatro de Los Andes, “Un Sol Amarillo” (In a Yellow Sun) talks about an earthquake happened 7 years ago in a Bolivian small village. Through the witnesses of who survive, the play describes the tragedy, the corruption of the army and the politicians, the exodus and the memories of who been exploited in their own land.

Chatting with Giampaolo, the producer of the company, we find out how the theatre has been influenced by the local traditions. This is one: when someone died, after the funeral, the closest friend dressed as the death person, he’s visiting the family. The family is recognizing the friend as the death son, and he’s acting as he really is.

Talking with Gonzalo, which is from Potosi, tells us that in his town, once per year all the men are meeting in the main square for a big free fight…let’s think around 4000 to 6000 people that kicks and punches no stop. Just the death of a participant freezes the battle, and as usual who died is in Pachamama honor.

Now is time to go, slowly, taking the most crowded and slowest buses, we heading to Colombia, passing through Peru and Ecuador, with few stops somewhere, but Cali is waiting for us…the capital of salsa!

Big up to those with big hearts and pockets!

Huge thanks to our first funders on our indiegogo site!  You guys are a brilliant inspiration... and hope many more of you will follow!  Viva Tierra Firme!

La Paz / El Alto

Following the guys of La Tropilla theatre we end up travelling in La Paz, and there collaborate with
Freddy and Andrea and El Alto theatre.
Their theatre is questioning on the problems of actual Bolivia, abut the curroption of the politician, the machism,
the mediocrity of the higher class, the slaveship of the poorest people, but always without forget to make
the audience smile, such as life, with up and down, laughs and cries.
4 years ago in the mine town of Huanuni exploded a proper war caused by the collapse of a huge mine, thanks to a lack of safety measures. Facing the disaster and the people that died in the mine, the underpaid miners began to fight against the company.
Mine company that paid paramilitary, mercenaries to shoot on the miners, that replied with dynamite, destroying the entire mine.
The repercussion followed in the town, as a proper civil war.
After the episode in Huanuni nobody wants to come back to work in the mine, and begun times of pessimism, depression, alchoolism and drugs addiction, never happend before. Freddy pushed by people from Huanuni decide to open a theatre workshop,
creating a play based on those dark days, and as actors people that really fight at the mine. Something change, at least on the minds: the withnesses of those troubled days seen themselves on the stage, and realizing that is possible looking forward, to rebuild what is lost.
We spent lot of time with Freddy, one day we went to El Alto to visit the fair.
El Alto, where the name of Andrea and Freddy's theatre company comes from is the youngest city of Bolivia,
infact the main street is named on the honour of pope John Paul II, thet died not so long time ago.
It is the city with the fastest growing population of the world, the name El Alto means "The High One", with an altitude of 4000mt.
El Alto has a breathstopping view on the entire La Paz, Mount Illimani and the Andean highlands.
Admiring the view, our attention stopped on a white puppet hanged on a post. Freddy explain us that the puppet is an allert for thieves, showing them how it can be their possible death. In fact thanks to the lack of police, here exhist a community law, where the people
are following a personal justice, most of the cases ending up with the death of the thief.
El Alto also is a place of revolutions and manifestations. Travelling in Bolivia we realize that is full of railways, but with no trains.
When thy privitized the national railway company and bought by a Chilean one, they absurdly increase the ticket price, to much for a Bolivian to afford it. For this reasons in El Alto the population exhausted made huge manifestations, ended up occuping the railway and piling up all the coaches, one on the top of another one, as a totem.
There's a lot suspestition in Bolivia, where most of the time the catholic Mary is mixed up with Pachamama, mother nature.
In La Paz you can buy fetus of lama, which are offert to the Pachamama. Before building a house you suppose to dig one fetus in every corner, otherwise the builders refuse even to start the construction. But if the buiding is massive, such a skyscraper or a bridge, the lamas are not enough, so the choice fall on the first poor drunkyard found on the street, unless the building company has to face a stubborn strike.

Isla del Sol

The first step of our Bolivian mission is Isla del Sol in Titicaca lake, working with La Tropilla theatre, 

Ulises, Julian and Luciano, three actors that decides to perform across Latin America.They are Argentinian but theatrically adopted by Bolivia and Teatro De Los Andes.Their play is "The Cyclop", written by Cesar Brie, taken from the classical greek tragedy, but projected around nowday Bolivia. The island of the Cyclope, not anymore surrounded by the ancient waters of Mediterranean Sea,but situated up on the highest lake of the world.We're been guested by the family of Don Alfonso and his wife Alicia, part of the Aymara communityof Challapampa, which is the largest village of the island. The life of the island is slow, the mimical expressions of the donkey and the pig, sleeping next to each other, gives us the idea of how is a usual day here,where years and the months are divided by the seasons and the agricolture times.One day Don Alfonso wake up everyone around 4:30 am to look at the sun rising behind the mountains.Here the clouds are kissing the lake, it was surprising that one of the most magic island is situated in a lake.We follow the theatre company in a school and in the village, the reaction of the kids and the adults,for the first time audience of a theatre play is speachless, watching all the children running to the backstageto check what happend to the dying Cyclope.