Alfonso Gumucio

Issues of communication, participation and development are at the core of other of his books: Las Radios Mineras de Bolivia (1989) written in collaboration with Bolivian journalist Lupe Cajías; Comunicación Alternativa y Cambio Social (1990); Conservacion, Desarrollo y Comunicacion (1990); NGO Puzzle (Nigeria, 1993) in collaboration with G.K. Ngeri Nwagha; Popular Theatre (Nigeria, 1994); Making Waves: Participatory communication for social change (New York, 2001), a research project for The Rockefeller Foundation, published in Spanish, English and French; and Communication for Social Change Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings (New York, 2006), edited in collaboration with Thomas Tufte, launched at the World Congress of Communication for Development (WCCD) in Rome, October 2006.

Books such as Realizando el Futuro published by the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), Ciudad de La Paz, Luz, Magia y Tradición published by the Municipality of La Paz, included his photographs, as well as Imágenes del Trabajo, awarded at the 4th International Art Contest organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1986. His photographic work has been used in book covers, calendars, magazines and journals of Latin America.

In 1984 he did a documentary on a Bolivian poet: Primo Castrillo, poeta (1984), awarded with the Second Prize at the International Super 8 Film Festival of Montreal.

He returned to Bolivia en 1983 and directed, along with Eduardo Barrios, a UNESCO production on the miners community radio stations: "The voice of the mines".

Bolivie (Paris, 1981, published by Editions Le Seuil), is an essay on his home country, covering history, politics, culture and other issues. La Máscara del Gorila (Mexico, 1982), is his account on the Bolivian military coup of 1981 and was awarded with the National Literature Award of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes of Mexico (INBA).

He studied filmmaking at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (IDHEC) and the University of Vincennes, in Paris. Back in Bolivia he directed a number of film and video documentaries on cultural and social issues. He went in exile after the military coup of 1980, and continued his work in Nicaragua and Mexico.

His poetry books include: Antología del asco (1979), Razones técnicas (1980), Sobras completas (1984), Sentímetros (1990) and Memoria de Caracoles (2000).

He studied filmmaking at the Institut des hautes études cinématographique (IDHEC) and the University of Vincennes, in Paris. Back in Bolivia in 1978 he directed a number of documentaries on cultural and social issues, as he worked at the Centro de Investigacion y Promocion del Campesinado (CIPCA), a Bolivian NGO, and published as a journalist in various daily newspapers and weekly journals.

Gumucio Dagron has published over twenty books, including poetry, narrative and studies on literature, film and communication: Provocaciones, his first book (1977) is a collection of in-depth interviews with 14 important Bolivian writers, among them: Jesus Lara, Augusto Cespedes, Oscar Cerruto, Jaime Saenz, Pedro Shimose, Renato Prada Oropeza and Raul Teixido. His studies on Bolivian and Latin American cinema trace the evolution of this art form in his region and home country: Historia del Cine Boliviano (Mexico, 1982); Cine, Censura y Exilio en América Latina (1979); Les Cinémas d’Amerique Latine (Paris, 1981) written in French, in collaboration with French film critic Guy Hennebelle; El Cine de los Trabajadores (Managua, 1981), and Luis Espinal y el Cine (1986).

Gumucio Dagron studied film in France and worked as assistant director to Alan Labrousse and Jorge Sanjines, and as a scriptwriter for Antonio Eguino. Dagron's first film as director, Señores Generales, Señores Coroneles (1976), is a documentary portraying the role of the Bolivian army and the CIA in the 1971 military coup that interrupted the democratic process in Bolivia; it includes interviews with Philip Agee, former CIA agent, and Régis Debray. During the late 1970s and early 1980s Dagron directed short documentary films on social and cultural issues, including Tupaj Katari, 15 de noviembre (1978), El Ejército en Villa Anta (1979), Comunidades de Trabajo (1979), Cooperativa Sandino (Nicaragua, 1980), Domitila: la mujer y la organización (1980), Primo Castrillo, poeta (1984). In 1983 he co-directed with Eduardo Barrios, a documentary for UNESCO on the miners community radio stations: The voice of the mines. Dagron's documentary film Bolivia: Union Rights (1988), part of the People Matter series produced by AVISE, was aired by the Dutch television. He later directed Oloruntoba (Nigeria, 1994), a portrait of the Nigerian artist; Sous Lavi (Haiti, 1997); La Primerisima (2003) and Voices from the Magdalena: Communication for Peace (Colombia, 2006), a report on community radio stations working in a war-torn region of Colombia.

Because of his involvement as progressive journalist he has twice been forced to live in exile, first living in Paris from 1972 to 1978, and later in Mexico from 1980 to 1984.

Alfonso Gumucio Dagron (born October 31, 1950) is a Bolivian writer, filmmaker, journalist, photographer and development communication specialist. His father was Alfonso Gumucio Reyes, a leader of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR), Minister of Economy during the Government of Víctor Paz Estenssoro, and Ambassador to Uruguay and Spain. He is the author of several books on film and [communication for social change, as well as documentary films, photographic exhibits and hundreds of articles in journals. He has worked in five continents on social development projects, as a communication for development specialist.