Potosi, the journey

  • Ron Havilio
  • Documentary
  • 2007
  • 2h04 et 1h50

In 1970, after their wedding in Buenos Aires, Ron and Jacqueline went on a journey in the Andes, with backpacks and still cameras. Crossing Bolivia, on their way to Cuzco, they discovered the city of Potosi. 29 years later they return to the same places, this time with their three daughters and a film camera. A road movie, which is a depiction in the time dimension of Potosi and the Andes, as well as a journey of introspection for the filmmaker and his family. Potosi, at 4,100 meters altitude, was once one of the largest and richest cities in the world. Potosi symbolized the wealth to which western culture aspired. For the millions of indigenous people who were forced to work in the depths of the mountain, Potosi was the gate to Hell. After its silver mines were drained, Potosi was left poor and forgotten. As in his previous film, Fragments – Jerusalem, Ron Havilio uses personal materials to draw a portrait of an Israeli family on the road, the generation gap, and thoughts about the passage of time. Static and silent black and white images reconstructing the voyage of 1970 are juxtaposed with moving color images from 1999. In the transition from black and white to
color, from photography to cinematography, from silence to the full and rich sound dimension, the director’s worldview also changes.

Production
  • Ex Nihilo
  • Patrick Sobelman
Coproduction
  • Ron Havilio
Distribution Doc & Films International