Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed this coming Tuesday, January 27: GAUCHO DEL NORTE
Sofian Khan and Andres Caballero’s study of Latin American shepherds in Idaho has its world premiere on PBS. Its first festival screening will follow next month at Big Sky.
A study in economic disparity in microcosm, Khan and Caballero’s observational portrait focuses on the personal sacrifices made by two shepherd guest workers, one from Chile, the other from Peru, as they seek better economic opportunities in the United States. As the film begins, Chilean Eraldo prepares to leave his Patagonian home to take on a three-year contract in Idaho to earn money for his children’s education, recognizing, with anxiety, that he may not see his aged parents again. In Salt Lake City UT, a younger worker, Jhonny, arrives with other migrants, sharing the same motivation for the family he left behind in Peru. Their labor – tending sheep, protecting them from predators – used to be done by Native American workers, but has in recent decades been the province of Latin Americans. With sensitivity, and aided by impressive lensing, Khan and Caballero capture the dilemma of family men forced to separate from their loved ones due to forces beyond their control. Isolated aside from their animal companions, and preoccupied with thoughts of family faraway, will each man be able to withstand the pressure?
what (not) to doc 