ZONA SUR/ SOUTHERN DISTRICT

As a rule, the upper classes tend to congregate in the North suburbs, but this is not the case with Bolivia's capital, La Paz, where they made their way to the Southern District. There, shielded from the outside world in a lavish villa surrounded by spectacular gardens, life seems slow an easy for the well-to-do matriarch, her three spoilt children and her Aymara Indian staff. Juan Carlos Valdivia's camera records the mundane day-to-day activities at the mansion -as well as the discontent simmering underneath the surface- until internal and external forces tip the balance of power. Steering clear of elaborate narrative ploys in favor of a crystal-clear directing style, Valvidia records the fall of an archetypal upper-class family, as Bolivia's social tensions reach a boiling point.