Productions

About the Film:

Through the voices of Bolivian revolutionaries, Charge takes us to the front lines of the conflicts surrounding natural resources. Andrea Terraza and other coca farmers battle military forces sent to eradicate a crop the farmers grow to survive. Oscar Olivera, a former shoe factory union leader, provokes a national protest against water privatization, leading to the eviction of one of the world’s largest corporations.  As the country is engulfed in crisis, a plan to sell Bolivia’s natural gas to California triggers the overthrow of the country’s president and the election of Evo Morales, a self-described socialist and the first indigenous president in Bolivia’s history.

Then, in the wake of this transformation, a remarkable discovery is made. Beneath the Salar de Uyuni, a remote salt flat in southern Bolivia, lies over 50% of the world’s lithium – a key resource for today’s battery-powered economy and burgeoning electric car industry. While the world focuses on these vast lithium reserves, Bolivia’s complicated history with resource extraction has assumed global urgency. Often described as a “beggar on a golden throne”, Bolivia’s rich natural resources have seldom profited the Bolivian people. Over the past twenty years, however, the country has witnessed a fierce populist revolt for control over those resources–a revolt with the potential to change Bolivia’s fate. At this historic turning point, the salt flat has become Bolivia’s crucible. At stake for the West is the future of the new energy economy. But for the Bolivian people the stakes are higher: an opportunity to break the resource curse and forever change their destiny.

In addition to being a Cinereach grantee and a Cinereach production, Charge is also a recipient of grants from:

Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund
MacArthur Foundation
NYSCA 
Paley Center for Media
San Francisco Film Society 
Snag Films