"Altiplano" by Peter Brosens & Jessica Woodworth

MITTELDEUTSCHE MEDIENFÖRDERUNG (MDM) + WALLIMAGE + FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FONDS (VAF)


Story & Script: Peter Brosens & Jessica Woodworth
Producer: Peter Brosens
Production: Bo Films, Entre Chien et Loup, Lemming Film
Backing: Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), CFWB, Wallimage, MDM, MBB, NFF, EURIMAGES, MEDIA Programme, Venice Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival.
A 2009 Belgian-German-Dutch Coproduction

Funding info:
The film recieved film funding support from three Cine-Regio members;
Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbH; (30.000,00€, as a soft loan),
Wallimage; (153.000,00€ in coproduction and 17.000,00€, as a soft loan), and Flanders Audiovisual Fonds (VAF) . 
The VAF-support for Altiplano was as follows : 
- a production support ‘all-in’ of 525.000 € (12.500 € script funding + 50.000 € development support + 462.500 € production support). The total production support by the VAF is to be considered as a ‘repayable interest-free advance’, that means that the support must be paid back with the profits of the film, if and insofar as there are any.
- an additional promotion support of 25.000 € was granted as a result of the official selection of the film for the Cannes Film Festival.  This support is not repayable.

Synopsis:
War photographer Grace, devastated after a violent incident in Iraq, renounces her profession. Her Belgian husband, Max, is a cataract surgeon working at an eye clinic in the high Andes of Peru. Nearby, the villagers of Turubamba succumb to illnesses caused by a mercury spill from a local mine. Saturnina, a young woman in Turubamba, loses her fiancé to the contamination. Ignorant of its true source, the villagers turn their rage on the foreign doctors, and in the ensuing riot Max is killed. Grace sets out on a journey of mourning to the place of Max's death. Saturnina takes drastic measures to protest against the endless violations towards her people and her land. Grace and Saturnina's destinies merge. ALTIPLANO is a lyrical and probing film about our divided but inextricably linked world.

Main awards/selection:
Cannes 2009 - Critics' Week

Source: CineRegio, November 2009