Sebastian Moro, the walker
Waiting for its World Premiere
November 2019. Night in La Paz. Sebastián Moro, a journalist from Mendoza and for two years Editor of Rural Press has gone for a walk, but that night will be the last. He will appear beaten and faded, he died at the age of 40. The mystery of what happened that night will be revealed with the voice of Sebastian in his WhatsApp audios, his shows, and mails. In a burning Bolivia, with tension and danger in its wake, Sebastian makes over and over the journey that will fatally take him to meet his destiny.
I met Sebastián Moro, a journalist from Mendoza in 2019, days before the elections held in October in Bolivia. I was in La Paz presenting my first documentary, and he interviewed me on his radio show at Comunidad Sur. I discovered in that interview a sensitive, committed professional, with a great sense of humor. There was a quick empathy between us because we were both from the same area in Argentina, and also because his story was connected somehow with what I told in my documentary "Los Ñoquis" about the massive layoffs in public employment during the government of Mauricio Macri. We agreed to meet next December in Buenos Aires. The political reality in Bolivia was mobilizing, and the violence of the opposition was already noticeable in the streets. On November 9th, Sebastián sent his article to Pagina/12 announcing “a coup in progress”. Then he went for a walk as he did every night and contact with him was lost. On Sunday the 10th he was found unconscious in his house, with obvious signs of having been beaten. A week later, he died without reacting, in a clinic at La Paz. His story challenges me personally, as well as the historical and political context, whose fragility has obsessed me in recent years. In this way, I began to feel that his voice was gaining presence and that Sebastián became visible. In my training as an actress and director, I have studied a lot of Greek and Elizabethan tragedies. I saw in Sebastián's story a life like this, marked by tragedy where the main character tries to avoid his destiny but inevitably falls into it. I wonder what guided Sebastián Moro: was it a necessity, or was it a superior force that pushed him toward an inevitable destiny? After listening, reading, watching, and talking with his family and closest friends, I reaffirmed the need to tell his story. Go after his steps like someone who traces a still persistent footprint. Using his own voice through his personal recordings and audio helps me distance myself and be able to talk about his destiny in Latin America today.
