Habilto: Debt for Life

From trading of mortgage-backed securities on Wall Street to debt peonage systems in the most peripheral areas, debt is essential to the operations of the modern world. This film explores a system of debt peonage in the Bolivian Amazon – known locally as “habilito” – and the extraction of precious hardwoods from the Mosetén indigenous lands. The film focuses on social relations between lenders and borrowers; cultural conceptions of savings and exchange; and the role of outside actors including the state and NGO’s.