Carlos Procopiuk, pioneer of Patagonian cinematography, was a passionate filmer who filmed for more than 50 years in the interior of Neuquén, combining documentary, community cinema and fantasy genre fiction.
Prokopiuka documentary that premiered this Thursday, October 31 at the Gaumont, traces his legacy through the testimonies of his family, friends, collaborators and, above all, through his unknown but prolific filmography.
With an archive that includes formats such as 16mm, Super8, Super VHS and U-Matic, among others, Prokopiuk presents the Patagonian territory as a place full of possibilities and an enthusiastic director, capable of bringing his dreams to reality and engaging more people in them.
“In 2015, after having lived, studied and worked for 12 years in the City of Buenos Aires, I returned to Neuquén with the aim of producing a unitary documentary called Extraordinary territoriesfocused on the milestones, myths and rites of northern Neuquén,” says the director of the documentary, Diego Lumerman, in the introductory text to the film. This is the first feature film by the Neuquén director.
And he remembers how he found out about this filmmaker: “During the research for this project, a colleague mentioned Carlos Procopiuk: ‘He was a documentary filmmaker, from Neuquén, a character… he has already passed away’. He told me that Procopiuk had filmed a shot of the Neuquén River flying over the valley on a hang glider, with a Super VHS camera in tow. “I had also filmed in the north of Neuquén, but 40 years before, when that region was practically unknown and impassable.”
From that moment on, he decided to investigate the life of this pioneer: “I got two of his films, one from 1975 and another from 1986, and when I saw them I was shocked to discover someone with a sensitivity and interests so similar to mine that I had already traveled through those same landscapes. During the filming of Extraordinary territoriesseveral stall holders remembered him and shared anecdotes from their filming. My curiosity about this director grew.”
And he continues: “Back in Neuquén, when consulting with acquaintances and family, everyone had some memory of ‘proo’. “What began as an initial investigation into his life and work revealed a fascinating character, with an intense and passionate life, and a vast and diverse production.”
This is how this film was put together. had its world premiere in the Argentine Panorama section of the 2023 Mar del Plata Festival: “The large number of stories about his life, the characters who surrounded him, the archive that seems endless, the pioneering nature of his work, the context in which he worked, and its record throughout the development of the region, were the elements that motivated me to make this documentary. However, the real inspiration came from the memories people shared about him.”
The Mar del Plata Festival catalog presented it this way: “As happens in Argentina in almost all areas, the official history of cinema is still far from providing federal representation. Its heroes are either from Buenos Aires or developed their careers in Buenos Aires, and until recently no one asked what happened beyond”.
“This documentary restores one of those ignored fragments through the figure of Carlos Procopiuk, a man who inhabited like no one else the ethics and aesthetics of cinema made in a fiercely independent way. An all-rounder who acted, wrote, produced, edited, directed and “He taught his community in Neuquén how to make films between the ’50s and ’90s.”
“With his memory still fresh and the eloquent images of his work, Diego Lumerman’s documentary pays off a small part of that unpayable debt that Argentine cinema has with its history.”
“Procopiuk” can be seen at the Gaumont cinema (av. Rivadavia 1635) every day at 7:15 p.m.