Jorge Prelorán

Jorge Prelorán was one of the most prolific documentary filmmakers from Argentina. This documentary presents an interview which focuses on his creative work, and on how his ideas about documentaries are key in the uniqueness of his topics and characters.

Made over a span of eight years, this documentary is structured as a conversation between anthropologist Mabel Prelorán and Zulay Saravino, who has left her Ecuadorian mountain village to explore opportunities in Los Angeles. Working the land and making textiles to sell, Zulay’s industrious family sent all of their daughters to school — at the time an unusual move in Quinchuqui — and raised an intelligent, independent daughter whose literacy, business sense and introduction to the Preloráns led her to try her luck in the States. Devoted to her village, she relates a mesmerizing account of Otavaleñan traditions and reflects on her experiences in the US.

Made over a span of eight years, this documentary is structured as a conversation between anthropologist Mabel Prelorán and Zulay Saravino, who has left her Ecuadorian mountain village to explore opportunities in Los Angeles. Working the land and making textiles to sell, Zulay’s industrious family sent all of their daughters to school — at the time an unusual move in Quinchuqui — and raised an intelligent, independent daughter whose literacy, business sense and introduction to the Preloráns led her to try her luck in the States. Devoted to her village, she relates a mesmerizing account of Otavaleñan traditions and reflects on her experiences in the US.

Made over a span of eight years, this documentary is structured as a conversation between anthropologist Mabel Prelorán and Zulay Saravino, who has left her Ecuadorian mountain village to explore opportunities in Los Angeles. Working the land and making textiles to sell, Zulay’s industrious family sent all of their daughters to school — at the time an unusual move in Quinchuqui — and raised an intelligent, independent daughter whose literacy, business sense and introduction to the Preloráns led her to try her luck in the States. Devoted to her village, she relates a mesmerizing account of Otavaleñan traditions and reflects on her experiences in the US.

Two women are torn between the past, with its traditions and apparent security, and the future full of uncertainty.

Don Emilio is a humble, 63-year-old man who lives in the Amazon rainforest, seven miles from the city of Iquitos, Peru. For all of his adult life he has worked as a curandero and vegetalista, a traditional healer. He estimates that in his career he has treated more than 2,500 clients. Through the camera lens of anthropologist Luis Eduardo Luna, Don Emilio tells us about his practice, his beliefs, his community, and his life. He shows us how he prepares ayahuasca and other herbal medicines. Finally, we see Don Emilio treat a man who has come to him for help, and hear from a poor woman who has brought her infant son for medical care.

Portrait of Luther Metke, a Spanish American War veteran, poet, philosopher, and log-cabin maker, aged 94 at the time of filming. In voice over narration drawn from interviews, Metke recites his own poetry and talks about his life and his philosophy. Includes footage of Metke building a six-sided cabin, being interviewed by a local TV news station, and visiting with his family. Oscar nominated documentary short in 1980.

Portrait of Luther Metke, a Spanish American War veteran, poet, philosopher, and log-cabin maker, aged 94 at the time of filming. In voice over narration drawn from interviews, Metke recites his own poetry and talks about his life and his philosophy. Includes footage of Metke building a six-sided cabin, being interviewed by a local TV news station, and visiting with his family. Oscar nominated documentary short in 1980.

Portrait of Luther Metke, a Spanish American War veteran, poet, philosopher, and log-cabin maker, aged 94 at the time of filming. In voice over narration drawn from interviews, Metke recites his own poetry and talks about his life and his philosophy. Includes footage of Metke building a six-sided cabin, being interviewed by a local TV news station, and visiting with his family. Oscar nominated documentary short in 1980.

Ethnographic film documents a family of woodcutters living in isolation in the mountains of Calden, at the geographic center of Argentina. Through his narration, Sixto Ramon Zerda explains his wish for his children to be educated and to avoid the punishing work and exploitation he has suffered. Introduction narrated by Henry Fonda.

Documents the life of the last generation of Selk'nam's. Their way of life, economy, rituals, chants, traditions, and their slow extinction after the colonization...

Documents the life of the last generation of Selk'nam's. Their way of life, economy, rituals, chants, traditions, and their slow extinction after the colonization...

Documents the life of the last generation of Selk'nam's. Their way of life, economy, rituals, chants, traditions, and their slow extinction after the colonization...

A short film, based on a novel by Gayl Jones. The film treats a black woman, Eva, who kills her lover. She refuses to speak to a white psychiatrist who questions her about her motives, so he leaves her with a tape recorder to confide in. In flashbacks, we see the abuse Eva suffered at the hands of a husband and two lovers.

COCHENGO MIRANDA is a portrait of a farmer and his family living in the Pampas region of Central Argentina. Made by Jorge Preloran, Argentina's best-known documentary filmmaker, the film is an example of his unique genre of ethnobiography, in which the story of an individual reveals larger truths about a culture and way of life.

Ethnographic film by Jorge Preloran presents a portrait of a well-preserved colonial church in the small town of Yavi, Jujuy Province, Argentina. A voice over narration by Zenaida Wayar, the church's caretaker for over forty years, provides the history of the church and the region.

IMAGINERO is an ethnobiography of Hermogenes Cayo, a self-taught woodcarver and painter who lives on the high Andean plateau of Argentina. The film portrays Hermogenes, his wife Aurelia Kilpe, and their children in their Andean lifestyle, as well as Hermogenes' passion for painting, carving, building, and his devotion to the Virgin Mary. Devout, austere and dedicated to craftsmanship, he can make anything from religious figures carved from cactus wood to a working harmonium. Inspired by a trip to Buenos Aires to advocate for land rights, Hermogenes has labored to replicate the style of the capital's grand cathedral and shrine to the Virgin with resourcefulness and skill.

IMAGINERO is an ethnobiography of Hermogenes Cayo, a self-taught woodcarver and painter who lives on the high Andean plateau of Argentina. The film portrays Hermogenes, his wife Aurelia Kilpe, and their children in their Andean lifestyle, as well as Hermogenes' passion for painting, carving, building, and his devotion to the Virgin Mary. Devout, austere and dedicated to craftsmanship, he can make anything from religious figures carved from cactus wood to a working harmonium. Inspired by a trip to Buenos Aires to advocate for land rights, Hermogenes has labored to replicate the style of the capital's grand cathedral and shrine to the Virgin with resourcefulness and skill.

Through soft landscape images of Tilcara, accompanied only by music, Medardo Pantoja, known as "the painter of the Quebrada de Humahuaca", in Jujuy, allows us to access the mysteries of that region.

Edited documentary film by Jorge Preloran presents a portrait of the children of a small rural school in Chucalezna, in Humahuaca Canyon, Jujuy Province, Argentina. In addition to working in the fields and attending their classes, the children paint. Their colorful depictions of the life and landscape of Chucalezna, painted on donated paper tacked to the exterior walls of the school, have garnered international recognition. Filmed in October 1966. Produced at the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán with assistance from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes.

Version re-edited from film of same title released in 1967 and shot in 1966. Easter weekend market in Yavi, a small town in Jujuy Province, Argentina, along the border with Bolivia.

Gleyzer’s first color film was his final collaboration with his old classmate Jorge Prelorán, who preferred a less polemical approach to documenting poverty. QUILINO details the Cordoba villagers’ reliance on the railroad that brings them customers from the cities, and the looming likelihood that the route will be shut down.

Gleyzer’s first color film was his final collaboration with his old classmate Jorge Prelorán, who preferred a less polemical approach to documenting poverty. QUILINO details the Cordoba villagers’ reliance on the railroad that brings them customers from the cities, and the looming likelihood that the route will be shut down.

This three-part documentary on Indian peasant life in the Catamarca region of Argentina is an emotionally moving examination of the generational cycle of poverty in underdeveloped countries.