Sylvio Michael Heufelder (* 1949) is a documentary filmmaker and founder of the company Tandem Film. In the 1990s, he has developed and produced the successful series "Treasure Hunters" for the US based "Discovery Channel". His wife, Jeanette Erazo Heufelder (* 1964), is an anthropologist, author and filmmaker. In her books she has portrayed Latin American personalities, such as the Colombian mayor and human rights activist Gloria Cuartas and the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
In Latin America, Sylvio and Jeanette Erazo Heufelder have realized various film projects, most of them broadcasted in German television. Sylvio Heufelder is the director of portraits of the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa and of the Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado which were produced in the late 1980s. In the 1990s Jeanette Erazo Heufelder directed portraits of important Latin American artists and personalities, such as Guatemaltecan Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú, Colombian mayor and human rights activist Gloria Cuartas, or Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamin.
Among the successful films of the couple are also two Cuban documentaries, one on the social and cultural life in pre-revolutionary Havana and another one about rum, the national beverage of the island. In yet another documentary they tell the stories of people involved in the gemstone-trade in Colombia.
The couple has donated material from their extensive audio, foto and film-archive related to the film projects realized in Latin America to the Ibero-American Institute. The archive contains 16mm film strips and professional video tapes (Betacam SP, Digital Betacam) and also high quality audio recordings (tapes, DAT cassettes). In addition to the broadcasted documentaries, the Collection Heufelder also includes the raw material, consisting of original footage and archive tapes.
A special feature of the collection is the extensive, still unedited footage about the Kalapalo Indians of the Xingu River in Brazil, part of a film project that was not realized up to now.
Furthermore, approximately 5500 photographic images (slides) shot before or during the film projects form part of the collection. These images – produced for research and documentation purposes – complement the film footage. At the same time they can be regarded as unique images about different topics on recent history, politics and popular culture of Latin America.

Material:
-5455 photographic images (slides)
-210 video-tapes and 15 filmstripes
-39 audio-tapes

Provenience: Donation Sylvio and Janette Erazo Heufelder 2015
Keywords: photography, Latin America,  Jorge Amado, Gloria Cuartas, Oswaldo Guayasmin, Rigoberta Menchú, Mario Vargas Llosa, Fidel Castro