Un petit bout d’Afrique

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Note of intent

I want to make a portrait of the Afro-Bolivian minority, composed of descendants of slaves arrived on Bolivia centuries ago. First I want to situate this community from a historical perspective, since the arrival of the first slaves in the silver mines of Potosi, where they worked in inhumane conditions. A single village throughout Bolivia is still almost entirely composed of Afro-Bolivians: it will of course be the central place from which to deploy my characters. I will then take the pulse of the Afro-Bolivian youth, today located in La Paz, always in search for identity, real small diaspora of a few thousand (or rather hundreds …) people, not abandoning for all that its identity.

Synopsis

Who knows the black population of Bolivia ? Reduced today at only a few thousand people scattered in the “Yungas” villages , the Afro-Bolivians are descendants of former slaves, decimated by thousands in the silver mines of Potosi. Nowadays, they are mostly small farmers and share their territory with the Aymara Indians, cultivating like them coca and coffee. They were, until recently, completely unknown to everyone, even non-existent in the constitution of Bolivia, isolated victims of racism, at the lowest of the social ladder. But for last ten years, notably under the impetus of their music, saya, delivered to date, they are eager to take their destiny in hand and throw their weight to reach a true recognition and regain their pride as a real people of Bolivia.

Visual concept

The beauty of the Andean landscape and the power of nature will be the focus of the film. I will privilege staring shots mostly slow, wide shots and clips, to try to restore the Afro-Bolivian peasant in his daily life. However, I will try to film the work in the fields closest to gestures, hands, tools, faces. We will see hands that attach, that handling tools, that pick… We will see bodies that fold and unfold, constantly in demand, always alert. Between the shades of green, from fields and mountains and the majesty of the sky and the harshness of the land, women’s clothes emerge, like butterflies. I will also focus at parties on the beautiful bright colors costumes of women and men.