The 1954-55 Andes-Amazonia expedition conducted under the direction of Hans Hertl had as its purpose the discovery of Paititi, a mysterious city of the Incas that was supposed to be somewhere east of the Cordillera range. The expedition traveled through the very interesting regions of Upper Bolivia. A base camp is established in Incapampa while Hans Ertl and 20 porters set out to trace a path in the virgin forest.
The forest that the expedition encounters is enchanting, but it holds hard work. And here is a huge rock barrier. The bitter effort to overcome all obstacles finally finds its reward: Ertl discovers the first ruins of the ancient city.
Director
Hans Ertl
Hans Ertl (Munich 21 February 1908 - Chiquitania 23 October 2000) was a German mountaineer and filmmaker.
In 1939, he was drafted into the Third Reich as a "war correspondent"; as a cameraman in Nazi Germany, he worked with director Leni Riefenstahl on many of her Nazi propaganda films, including "Olympia".
During the Second World War, he was one of the favorite cameramen of General Rommel's retinue, which earned him the reputation of "Rommel's photographer".
During the early part of his career, he invented an underwater camera and a ski-mountable camera, which transformed the way movies were shot.
In the mid-1950s, after an Allied arrest and a ban on working professionally in Germany, Ertl fled to Chile and eventually settled in Bolivia, where he made two "expedition film" type documentaries.
Awards
Gallery
