Opening the Earth: The Potato King

Opening the Earth: The Potato King is a documentary about Julio Hancco, a aging guardian of biodiversity living at 14,600 ft above sea level in the Andes Mountains if Peru. His humble life and rise to international fame is contrasted with the global significance of his work and how the modern world may depend on him in an emergency. Julio Hancco represents a people, a culture, and a way of life that is being lost to modernization. The new generation of Peruvians are losing their desire to farm, more driven to be able to afford material possessions than inherit the land from their ancestors. Opening the Earth: The Potato King follows two young Peruvians on opposite sides of the issue. Hernan Hancco is the Potato King’s son, and has chosen to leave his small village for the capital city of Lima, Peru in search of a career and wealth. He has found that the dream of living in the big city isn’t always what it is promoted to be. Yenni Quispe-Surco is a young school girl who faces a decision, move to the city to pursue wealth and modern success, or stay in her village and carry on the traditional Quechua lifestyle of her ancestors. The result is a documentary that challenges our perception of poverty and celebrates traditional knowledge.