In 2018, Guy Simoneau landed in Bolivia after completing a documentary on displaced Colombians. Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of South America, has been at the helm of the Bolivian executive for three terms already and has just bypassed the popular referendum by being authorized by the Constitutional Court for a fourth term. And what was originally supposed to be a simple documentary on the daily life of Bolivians, under the swell of events, turned into testimony to the political storm which split the population in two and pushed it into a struggle fratricidal. This is the genesis ofBolivian stories.
The Quebec director, who already knew several countries on the South American continent, particularly Colombia (for his documentary Desplazados: eternally forgotten)knew little or nothing about Bolivia before setting foot there for the first time in 2018. He immediately “fell in love” with the country, he says, with its people, its culture, its traditions ancestral.
He who was already doing exchange and production workshops with indigenous populations, he could not resist the urge to return to Bolivia at the beginning of the following year, to shoot a documentary there on the least westernized South America. For almost a year, Simoneau followed the local populations in what shapes their daily lives. Then into what would shape their future.
No coincidence is at the origin of its presence in La Paz during one of the most important moments in the contemporary history of the country. The filmmaker followed his instincts, which spoke true. “I already felt for several months, before the facts, that there was a growing discontent towards Evo Morales. Let’s give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, Evo Morales [« papa Evo », comme l’appellent certains de ses partisans, NDLR] has contributed a lot to the valorization of the indigenous culture, to what the indigenous population regains its pride. But part of the citizens ended up reproaching him for clinging too much to power. »
A discontent which, as we know, led to the resignation and exile of Evo Morales shortly after his re-election for a fourth term in 2019.
In the midst of these popular movements, Guy Simoneau was therefore present, alone with his camera. Completely immersed, he makes us experience discontent from the inside, both pros and anti-Evos, through his documentary.
“I was a bit like Doctors Without Borders. A wounded man, when he arrives, we don’t ask him which side he is on […] I don’t take sides. I had friends on both sides. Besides, who am I, a Quebecer, to take sides? […] I simply wanted to participate as a filmmaker, to witness all of this. »
There are some very strong moments, with impressive images that the filmmaker preferred to show without commentary, audio or writing, in order to leave the viewer free to form their own opinion.
I simply wanted to participate as a filmmaker, to witness all this
However, from his more than eventful year of filming in Bolivia, it is not the popular grumbling vis-à-vis “Evo” that the director remembers the most, but the passion that animates the Bolivian population. A passion for politics that pushes her to protest by crying, shouting or taking to the streets as much as a passion for life, which Bolivians want to celebrate with a lot of rites and “flamboyant” popular festivals.
The ambivalence of these two forces inhabits the film, and Simoneau’s fascination for this country a thousand leagues from our Western landmarks transpires in each image of the documentary.
More than a trace of a political moment, Bolivian stories is, as its name suggests, the testimony of a millennial way of life that adapts to the modern world.