Known for a long time as Belgium's greatest explorer, the Marquis de Wavrin was also a writer, a talented photographer and a filmmaker. Using footage shot on his numerous journeys in Latin America he made successful films such as In the Scalp Country (1931) and Among the Indian Sorcerers (1934). This edition also includes the unpublished documentary Marquis de Wavrin. From the Manor to the Jungle (2017), as well as At the Heart of Unknown South America, which was reconstructed from unedited rushes preserved at the Royal Film Archive of Belgium. A fascinating and intriguing person, he left us some extraordinary images of the South American continent.
CONTENT
DVD 1
1. Marquis de Wavrin. Du manoir à la jungle / Marquis de Wavrin. From the Manor to the Jungle (2017 - 85 min.) - Grace Winter & Luc Plantier
The film invites us to follow into the footsteps of the Marquis de Wavrin, the first white man to film the head-shrinking Shuar (called Jivaro by the Spanish) at the end of the 1920s. More than 6000 meters of film footage shot between 1920 and 1938 make him a renowned explorer and ethnographer. Thanks to the preservation of this cinematographic heritage at the Royal Film Archive of Belgium, today we (re)discover the Marquis de Wavrin, film maker at heart, friend and supporter of the Indians of the Upper Amazonian forest.
2. Au Centre de l'Amérique du Sud inconnue / At the heart of Unknown South America (1924 - 39 min.)
Marquis de Wavrin shot these images during a series of trips to South America between 1919 and 1922. The original documentary is lost, but thanks to reels of footage from the Royal Film Archive of Belgium's collection, old newspaper articles describing the film in detail and pictures, a rough version of this film has been restored. It is an unedited assembly of imagery in which the original intertitles are included and gaps were filled in with new intertitles. The journey starts in Northern Argentina (the waterfalls of Iguaçu), continues all the way across Paraguay and along the Gran Chaco, concluding in Manáos (Brasil).
DVD 2
3. Au Pays du Scalp / In the Scalp Country (1931 - 72 min.)
It is thanks to this film that the Marquis gained notoriety with a wider audience. The film is the result of film footage shot between May 1926 and June 1930 in several South American countries. Departing from Guayaquil, he first went to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. Upon returning to the capital of Ecuador, chance brought him to the Ocaina Indians, the Boro, the Napo, the Jivaro and the Piro. He explored the Incan mines of Machu Picchu, discovered only a few years prior, and ended his journey on the famed Guano islands. The musical score, inspired by traditional Indian music, was created by Maurice Jaubert.
4. Chez les Indiens Sorciers / Among the Indian Sorcerers (1934 - 31 min.)
During a trip to Colombia in 1932-33, the marquis met a lot of different ethnic groups of Indians (Guahibo, Choco, Arawak, Motilón,...). One of the tribes is a group of pygmies whose existence was unknown. He gets to film rituals never witnessed before by foreigners. The indigenous people consume liquor or yopo (a type of cocaine) that brings them in a state of drunkenness necessary for their dances and healing rituals.
5. Venezuela, petite Venise / Venezuela, Little Venice (1937 - 53 min.)
The Marquis begins a trip along the Orinoco River to reach its source, still as yet undiscovered. Although the sudden rising rapids prevent him from reaching his goal, this expedition does take him to faraway regions and hidden tribes of Venezuela. The film is presented in Brussels on February 19th, 1937, in the presence of King Leopold III. In some countries the film was entitled "Venezuela, ses hommes et ses paysages" (Venezuela, its people and its landscapes). The Venezuelan legation in Paris expressed their discontent, claiming the documentary would result in an erroneous image of the country considering these tribes do not represent the whole population.
6. Censored scenes from Chez les Indiens Sorciers + Interview of a collector (2017 - 16 min.)
Originally included in the film "Chez les Indiens Sorciers", these scenes were censored 1939 because they were considered inappropriate and inconsistent with the new law to tackle drunkenness. The scenes contain images of heavy drinking, bathing women and a woman breastfeeding a monkey.
A collector talks about the two shrunken heads he bought from Marquis de Wavrin's son.
DVD 1: 124'
DVD 2: 172'
Language: French, English
Subtitles: French, Dutch, English, Spanish
Regional code: PAL (region free)