Jorge Sanjinés facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jorge Sanjinés
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| Born |
Jorge Sanjinés Aramayo
July 31, 1936 |
| Alma mater | Higher University of San Andrés Pontifical Catholic University of Chile |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Years active | 1957–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Beatriz Azurduy Palacios
(died 2003) |
Jorge Sanjinés Aramayo, born on July 31, 1936, is a famous film director and writer from Bolivia. He started a film group called Grupo Ukamau. In 2009, he received the ALBA Prize for Arts, which is a special award for artists.
Contents
Making Movies for Change
Jorge Sanjinés was born in La Paz, Bolivia. He makes movies that tell important stories about social issues. His films are often for people living in the Andean mountains, like farmers and workers.
His movies are part of a style called 'New Latin American Cinema' or Third Cinema. This type of filmmaking was different from regular Hollywood movies. Instead of focusing on one hero, Sanjinés's films show groups of people working together to make a difference.
Blood of the Condor
In 1969, Sanjinés made a film called Blood of the Condor (Yawar Mallku). This movie told the story of a clinic that was secretly preventing Andean Indian women from having children. The film suggested that a group called "Progress Corps" (which was like the American Peace Corps) was involved.
Many people believe this movie helped lead to the Peace Corps leaving Bolivia. It showed how local people felt about outside groups interfering with their culture.
Working with the People
After Yawar Mallku was shown, Sanjinés learned something important. Many farmers found his films hard to understand because he used flashbacks, a technique common in European art films. They also felt his movies didn't always clearly show why indigenous people faced problems.
Sanjinés listened to this feedback. For his next film, El coraje del pueblo (The Courage of the People), made in 1971, he changed his approach. This movie was about a historical event called the Massacre of San Juan.
For this film, Sanjinés worked with people who were not professional actors, including many farmers themselves. This was the start of a new way of filmmaking for him, where he filmed "with the people."
His next film, El enemigo principal (The Principal Enemy), came out in 1973. It explored how powerful landowners affected the local farming communities.
Jorge Sanjinés often made movies with very little money. He also had few film studios to work with and not much of a movie tradition in Bolivia to follow.
Ideas About Revolutionary Cinema
In 1976, Jorge Sanjinés wrote an important essay called "Problems of Form and Content in Revolutionary Cinema." This essay was part of the Third Cinema movement in Latin American cinema. Other famous essays from this movement include "Aesthetic of Hunger" and "For an Imperfect Cinema."
Sanjinés believed that filmmakers should move away from the Hollywood idea of a single "auteur" (a director seen as the main artist). Instead, he wanted filmmaking to be a way to create political change.
Film as a Tool for Communication
Sanjinés explained that film can be a powerful way to share ideas about revolution. He thought movies could reach many people. However, he also warned that filmmakers needed to be careful when using film, as it can be a very expensive and commercial art form.
He wrote: "We cannot attack imperialism's ideology by using its own formal tricks and dishonest techniques, whose raison d'être is to stupefy and deceive. Not only do such methods violate revolutionary morality, but they also correspond structurally to imperialism's ideology and content." This means he felt filmmakers should not use the same tricks that big, powerful film industries use to trick or confuse audiences.
Collective Work in Film
Sanjinés also argued against focusing on individual heroes in films. He believed that revolutionary films should be a team effort, just like a revolution itself is a collective effort.
He stated: "As it matures, Revolutionary Cinema can only be collective, just as the revolution itself is collective."
Using Real Stories and Voices
Sanjinés also talked a lot about how important language and speech are in revolutionary films. He challenged the idea of using a strict script. Instead, he preferred actors who could tell stories based on their own memories and experiences.
For example, when making The Courage of the People, Sanjinés only used actors who could act out the events as they remembered them. He noted: "The peasants used the filming to break the silence of oppression and speak openly."
Sanjinés felt that "Cinema and reality came together" in this way. This shows how much he valued breaking away from traditional film rules to create honest and powerful movies.
Sharing Revolutionary Films
The final part of his essay discussed the challenges of distributing revolutionary films. It might seem pointless to make a film if you can't show it to many people. However, Sanjinés stressed that it's still important to make these films.
Even if these movies couldn't be widely shown where they might have the biggest impact, Sanjinés suggested other ways to share them around the world. He believed that even though his films were against certain powerful systems, they could still be shown to European and American audiences for educational reasons.
Filmography
Short films
- Sueños y realidades (1962)
- Revolución (1963)
Feature films
- Ukamau, or And So It Is (1966)
- Yawar Mallku, or Blood of the Condor (1969)
- El coraje del pueblo, or The Courage of the People (1971)
- El enemigo principal, or The Principal Enemy (1974)
- Fuera de aquí, or Get out of Here! (1981)
- Las banderas del amanecer (1983)
- La nación clandestina (1989)
- Para recibir el canto de los pájaros (1995)
- Los hijos del último jardín (2004)
- Insurgentes (2012)
- Juana Azurduy “Guerrillera de la Patria Grande” (2016)
- Los Viejos Soldados (2024)
See also
In Spanish: Jorge Sanjinés para niños
- Latin American cinema
- Third Cinema
- List of Bolivian films
- Film manifesto
