Hermógenes Cayo (Imaginero) - Jorge Preloran, 1969

In Hermógenes Cayo we have the sensitive and human portrayal of a folk artist living on the puna of northwestern Argentina. The subject of the film is a self made man with a deep dedication both folk catholicism and the plastic art. The films allows Hermogenes to narrate in his own language, spanish, some twenty years of his life. Though impoverished, he seems more than satisfied whit his lot. His accomplishments are impressive. He produces paintings, altars, and images, and even designs and builds a chapel. When faced with the complexities of a broken harmonium, an instrument he has never seen before, he first rebuilds it without guidance and then proceeds to fashion one for himself from memory... As explanation as to how he accomplishes all this, he states simply that “these things are not of a different world; they were made by men just like me... all you have to do is be determined and by thinking, thinking... you can invent machines“...