Cerro Saturno, 13 min, 2022
Amid the lunar landscapes of the Bolivian mountains, the few traces of human presence seem minuscule, anecdotal. Shot by shot, Miguel Hilari’s camera follows these clues that lead to the city and its sonic confusion, where faces are captured with the same attention and poetry as the environment in which they live. – Visions du Réel
Bocamina, 22 min, 2019
Filmed in the Bolivian city of Potosí, Bocamina concerns the miners who work in Cerro Rico, the mountain of silver ore that overlooks the city. Emerging from the darkness, faces begin a dialogue with those from years long past. – Film at Lincoln Center
Compañia, 60 min, 2019
In Bolivia, in a small mountain village, the daily rhythm seems marked by a time that no longer exists, by nature’s invisible forces, by the will of the gods. In this place where there is no longer a difference between dreams and reality, during the festival of the dead, one can almost hear the voices of those who are no longer there, creating an invisible bridge between past and present. Compañía offers a nearly mystical journey between ancestral traditions and the modern world, between the individual and the community, highlighting the unfathomable distance that separates us from our cultural heritage. A necessary discussion on the situation of the native peoples of America, forced to adapt to a system of social organisation that is not theirs. A contemporary ethnographical vision. – Elena López Riera
These films centre on issues that concern me: movement and migration, tensions between generations, indigenous identity, rural and urban landscapes. In many ways, these matters are central to Bolivia’s contemporary experience. While making the films, I was less interested in storytelling and more focused on evoking a certain place or moment while making use of observational perspectives and montage. – Miguel Hilari
Watch an interview with Miguel Hilari at CiNEOLA.
Read a Spanish-language review of Cerro Saturno at desistfilm.
All stills, photographs, and artwork courtesy © Miguel Hilari. Screening co-presented with Three Fold Press, Detroit.
