Beatriz Palacios: Ukamau’s Cornerstone (1974–2003)

• Author: Isabel Seguí
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X20988693
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X20988693

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 237, Vol. 48 No. 2, March 2021, 77–92

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20988693

© 2021 Latin American Perspectives

77

Beatriz Palacios

Ukamau’s Cornerstone (1974–2003)

by

Isabel Seguí

Beatriz Palacios’s instrumental role in the Ukamau group has been largely ignored

by film historiography and criticism. The authorial persona of her comrade and hus-

band, Jorge Sanjinés, has eclipsed Palacios’s work and ideas. Her erasure is due to the

perspectives chosen to analyze Ukamau (male-centered auteurist and formalist

approaches) and to the almost exclusive use of the voice of Sanjinés (interviews,

essays, and films interpreted in an authorial key) to construct the group’s history.

Ignoring the contribution and importance of Palacios’s work and not accounting for

her share in the authorship of the films made during the years they lived and worked

together impedes a correct understanding of the complexity of the production context

and the amplitude of the contribution of Ukamau to Latin American cinema. While

her work as a producer is increasingly recognized, delving into her roles as a dis-

seminator of political cinema in alternative circuits, evaluator of the impact of the

movies on the popular classes, and documentary director completes the portrait of her

all-encompassing life and career.

En gran medida, el papel instrumental de Beatriz Palacios en el grupo Ukamau ha

sido ignorado por la historiografía y la crítica cinematográficas. La persona autoral de

su camarada y esposo, Jorge Sanjinés, ha eclipsado la obra e ideas de Palacios. Dicha

eliminación se debe a las perspectivas elegidas para analizar Ukamau (enfoques y for-

malistas) y al uso casi exclusivo de la voz de Sanjinés (entrevistas, ensayos y películas

interpretadas en clave autoral) para construir la historia del grupo. Ignorar la contri-

bución e importancia del trabajo de Palacios, así como su participación en la autoría de

las películas realizadas durante los años que vivieron y trabajaron juntos, impide una

correcta contribución de Ukamau al cine latinoamericano. Mientras que su trabajo

como productora es cada vez más reconocido, ahondar en su labor como divulgadora de

cine político en circuitos alternativos, evaluadora del impacto de las películas en las

clases populares y directora de documentales, completa debidamente retrato de su vida

y carrera.

Keywords: Beatriz Palacios, Bolivian cinema, Latin American women filmmakers, New

Latin American cinema, Ukamau

Isabel Seguí is a feminist film historian specializing in Andean cinema, film collectives and wom-

en’s cinematic practices. She works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh—

current project “Women’s Nonfiction Filmmaking in Peru (1970–2020)” funded by the Leverhulme

Trust—and was coorganizer of the Latin American Women’s Filmmaking International

Conferences held in London (2017) and Madrid (2019).

988693LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X20988693Latin American PerspectivesSeguí / Beatriz Palacios

research-article2021

78 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Beatriz Palacios is an intriguing figure. Described by Alfonso Gumucio

Dagron in 1975 as “halfway between Mata Hari and Tania the guerrillera”

(Gumucio, 2016: 137), she has hovered under the radar of historiography, and

her recognition is long overdue. Archival evidence and oral testimonies indi-

cate that she managed every aspect of the daily operation of the Ukamau group

from her incorporation in 1974 until her death in 2003. Her influence was not

only managerial but also ideological and creative.

According to Jorge Sanjinés, she was the liaison with Bolivian social and

political movements and had a say in the creative decisions from screenwriting

to editing (interview, La Paz, August 12. 2015). Why, then, has her instrumental

role in the structure of the Ukamau group been so largely ignored by film his-

toriography and criticism? Why has the authorial persona of Jorge Sanjinés

ended up eclipsing her work and ideas? Her being virtually erased from schol-

arly writing is not due to the will of Sanjinés or to any lack of available informa-

tion. In every single oral account of her collaborators, assistants, friends, and

colleagues, the interviewee emphasizes the constant control she exerted over

every stage of production and distribution of the films.

From the descriptions of her personality we can even intuit that she was

overcontrolling and probably a workaholic. She had power in Ukamau. An

important part of the decision making fell upon her shoulders or was the prod-

uct of consensus between her and Sanjinés.1 Since she is not overlooked in the

oral narratives, it can be said that the responsibility for Beatriz Palacios’s

absence from the academic literature is due to the perspectives chosen to ana-

lyze the Ukamau group. These auteurist, formalist, or exclusively textual

approaches have resulted in vertical and male-centered analyses that over-

shadow the contribution of women and below-the-line members of the crew.

Thomas Schatz, in The Genius of the System (2009: 524), states: “Auteurism

itself would not be worth bothering with if it hadn’t been so influential, effec-

tively stalling film history and criticism in a prolonged stage of adolescent

romanticism.” The focus of most scholarship on Ukamau on its innovative

cinematic language and the empowering representation of working-class and

indigenous groups, although important, has kept us from more complex dis-

cussions about the politics of production, exhibition, and reception. To grow

out of adolescence it is necessary to acknowledge the big picture. Even a cur-

sory analysis shows that it takes much more than an artist or even an exqui-

site filmmaker to make movies in countries without a film industry, without

large budgets, and under circumstances of political persecution. In these

cases what is needed is organizational skills, the ability to generate resources,

and political drive. All the aforementioned qualities and more were unwaver-

ingly provided by Palacios from the moment she became involved with the

Ukamau group in 1974.

Therefore, ignoring the contribution and importance of Palacios’s work and

not accounting for her share in the authorship of the films they made during

the years she and Sanjinés lived and worked together impedes a correct under-

standing of the amplitude of the contribution of Ukamau to Latin American

cinema. This article aims to redress this situation. Elsewhere, I have written

about Palacios’s role as a producer and manager (Seguí, 2018). Here I am going

to address her role as a disseminator, evaluator, and director and document