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12.9.2020 | 11th Berlin Biennale c/o ExRotaprint

En la selva hay mucho por hacer [In the Jungle There Is Much to Do]

Family hours

Screening of the 1974 animation film by Grupo Experimental de Cine (Alfredo Echániz, Gabriel Peluffo, Walter Tournier), with live voice-over by Natascha Noack (12.9., 10.10., 24.10.) and Jörg Petzold (26.9.).

An owl, an elephant, a turtle, a fish, a seal, a tiger, a bird, and a snail gather around a small fire to discuss what is to be done to make the jungle, where they live, a better place for everyone. One day a hunter comes, finds their gathering place and traps the animals to take them away to the city zoo. This is the tale of those locked up animals, who—with the help of a little girl, secret collaborators, and their free animal friends—find their way back home to be with their children and continue to do all that there is to do in the jungle.

In the early 1970s, a young Mauricio Gatti is imprisoned in a military detention center in Montevideo, Uruguay, together with his anarchist comrades. During his year spent in confinement, he sent letters—in the form of drawings—to his daughter Paula. These letters were published upon his release in 1972 as the children’s book En la selva hay mucho por hacer [In the Jungle There Is Much to Do]. It was his way of speaking of political prison with a three-year-old in a language that could also be hers. In 1974, the book was turned into a short animated film by Alfredo Echaniz, Gabriel Peluffo, and Walter Tournier, who called themselves Grupo Experimental de Cine [experimental cinema group] to avoid persecution under the military dictatorship. The film was the last production made by the Cinemateca del Tercer Mundo [Third World Cinematheque], which was shut down by the dictatorship. It was only screened twice before resurfacing years later in exile.

Thank you to the Laboratorio de Preservación Audiovisual del Archivo General de la Universidad de la República (LAPA-AGU) for realizing the new digitalization of the film, and to the Archivo de Cinemateca Uruguaya for the loan of the film.

More dates: 26.9.2020, 10.10.2020 and 24.10.2020