Movements: spectacular and revolutionary... small and slow

As the post-production of this film enters its second year, we in the creative team grapple with patience. With funds, we would finish within a couple of months... As it is, as we inch forward steadily, we are forced to aim our art beyond the urgency of the topical, beyond the current political battles. This forced transcendence, I think, can be good for art, despite its difficulty. So many artworks leave you thinking, "dang, wish the author would've spent a little more time thinking this all the way through". I am struck by how much attention is paid to revolutionary fervor, and how little to the long, complex aftermath.

The spectacular moments of 2000 and 2003, when Bolivia was a battleground, have given way to the past 7 years of working out how to construct a new model, with all its internal contradictions and slow-burning conflicts with occasional flare-ups. The current marches around the TIPNIS road-building issue display this dynamic perfectly. Indigenous groups and other opposition to the government plan are currently marching from the indigenous lands towards the capitol, protesting a proposed road that would run through indigenous lands and natural preserves. Now, this conflict is just the spectacular moment of visible flame that has erupted after years of friction between developmentalism and “pachamamismo”/indigenismo.

Obviously revolutionary fervor is fascinating with all its supercharged emotion… however, at stake is whether or not we deepen our understanding of the issues by examining history, and a continuing post-uprising reality that belies or at least tempers the promises of revolution. The Water Wars in Cochabamba, unfortunately, far from solved Cochabamba’s water problems (see this Wikipedia article for the more info on the conflict, and the current water problems). The Arab Spring was so exciting when Egypt’s people rose up. And now? How many outside the region know what’s going on? Have the Egyptian people founded a new society? Check out this radio story on Egypt now:

As I work on this film, constantly reflecting and deepening understanding of (r)evolutionary processes with so many other creative minds, working with words, images and sounds, I am constantly impressed by how slow and small real change is... and how misleading the spectacle can be. Working to preserve creative and critical memory of social history, pushing towards a more just future, is grueling. And unpopular. But it appears to me to be the only way to truly progress. Otherwise the spectacle of revolution overwhelms, burns and tramples the true, deep movements that permit baby steps (and occasional leaps) forward on solid ground.

I think filming is revolution, and postproduction/distribution nation-(re)building. Spectacular Movements, the documentary, is a project embedded in much larger projects, from Teatro Trono's plays and performances, to the struggle to bring justice to the perpetrators of historical atrocities, to understanding the roots of revolutionary crises, to delving into the formation of a creative-critical mestizo-urban-indigenous identity. These are not fast and furious, even if they are exciting. Guided by the humble model set by these deeper, slower movements, we continue the journey.  Thanks for coming along.