Join us for the screening of “Cerro Rico, Tierra Rica” this Sunday October 14th at 2:15 pm at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 3.
For ticket info: http://planetinfocus.org/festival-films/cerro-rico-tierra-rica/
Directed by: Juan Vallejo | 90 minutes | Colombia, Bolivia, USA | Spanish with English subtitles | Documentary | Toronto Premiere
Description provided by Planet in Focus:
Two distinct mining communities in southwestern Bolivia are portrayed in this haunting elegy to the landscape of the Altiplano (the high plateaus of the Andes mountains), and the people who work in its mines. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Cerro Rico (Rich Hill), an enormous conical mountain that towers over the city of Potosi, provided half of the world’s silver and sustained the economy of the Spanish Empire during colonial times. Most of the mineral wealth of Cerro Rico has been depleted, but today more than 10 thousand miners still work on the slopes and in the tunnels of the mountain looking for zinc, tin, lead or a good vein of silver. Bolivia has recently discovered that it holds half of the world’s lithium reserves in the Arctic-looking plains of the Salar de Uyuni and in the Potosi region. Currently untapped, these reserves have the potential to make Bolivia a key energy supplier in the world market.
An observational mosaic that is at once beautiful and contemplative, Cerro Rico, Tierra Rica offers an unsparing look at life and work in the Andes.
Audience Award, International Human Rights Festival of Bolivia
Co-sponsored by the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network