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Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados

A Journey to the Fumigated Towns | Reise in die vergifteten Dörfer
Berlinale Special 2018
© Cinesur s.a.
Fernando E. Solanas’ film opens with a series of startling images: in the province of Salta in northern Argentina, centuries-old forests are being cleared to make way for huge soya plantations. Indigenous farmers are being driven out of their villages and are no longer allowed to use the access roads that have now been privatised. Herbicides are being sprayed and diseases are spreading. These images form the starting point for this doyen of investigative documentary’s angry condemnation of state-sanctioned environmental crimes committed by industrial agriculture and their consequences. Solanas’ film investigates the social aftermath of monoculture and the uncontrolled use of weedkillers and other chemical substances. It shows how toxins that are spread on the fields are already having a devastating effect on the development of embryos. He also puts this toxification to the test by asking: how heavily poisoned is his own blood? At the same time, he explores ways in which we can break out of this vicious circle of a corrupt system in which consumers are deceived and regulation is eliminated. Do ecological alternatives have a chance?
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by Fernando E. Solanas Argentina 2017 Spanish 97’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Written and Directed by Fernando E. Solanas
Cinematography Nicolás Sulcic, Fernando E. Solanas
Editing Juan Carlos Macías, Alberto Ponce, Nicolás Sulcic, Fernando E. Solanas
Music Mauro Lázzaro
Sound Tomás Bauer
Assistant Director Nicolás Sulcic
Producer Fernando E. Solanas
Executive Producer Victoria Solanas

World sales

Wide House

http://widehouse.org/ http://widehouse.org/

Produced by

Cinesur

Photos

Panel Discussion | Talk

Fernando E. Solanas

This director and screenwriter was born in Argentina in 1936 and studied theatre, music and law. Between 1966 and 1968 he worked on a documentary trilogy entitled ‘The Hour of the Furnaces’ which screened in over 70 countries. In 1976, after receiving death threats, he went into exile in Paris but returned to Buenos Aires in 1983. He won international awards for his films Tangos, the Exile of Gardel, South, The Journey and Clouds. In 2004 he was honoured with the Golden Bear for his lifetime’s achievement. In 2002 he began the documentary cycle of which A Journey to the Fumigated Towns is the closing film.

Filmography

1968 La hora de los Hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces); documentary 1975 Los hijos de Fierro 1985 Tangos, el exilio de Gardel (Tangos, the Exile of Gardel) 1988 Sur (South) 1992 El viaje (The Journey) 1998 La nube (Clouds) 2004 Memoria del saqueo (Social Genocide); documentary 2005 La dignidad de los nadies (The Dignity of the Nobodies); documentary 2007 Argentina latente (Latent Argentina); documentary 2008 La próxima estación (The Next Station); documentary 2009 Tierra sublevada: Oro impuro (Impure Gold); documentary 2011 Tierra sublevada: Oro negro (Black Gold); documentary 2013 La guerra del fracking (The Fracking War); documentary 2016 El legado (The Legacy); documentary 2018 Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados (A Journey to the Fumigated Towns); documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018