Environment

The Biobío is one of the longest rivers in Chile, having its source in the Andes and flowing into the Pacific Ocean. In 1997 the Spanish hydro-electric company ENDESA decided to build a dam in the Biobío River to form the Ralco hydroelectric power station. In May, 2004, the flooding of the Ralco valley started and 70 indigenous families were displaced and "invited to live in the high mountains" at a height of 2,000 meters. Mapuche spokespeople who have denounced the situation of their brothers have been persecuted and convicted by the Chilean courts, using anti-terrorist laws developed under Pinochet, although none have ever been found in possession of a firearm or other weapons. “Switch off” is a tale about a usurped nation, about a forgotten genocide, about globalization, about one river.

After forty years living in Mexico City, Antonia longs to go back to her home town, a Mazahua village in the state of Mexico. When she finally decides to do that, she encounters a lot of things that she didn’t expect, like the scarcity of water that threatens life in her community.