Last night, the actor from The Lord of the Rings presented the book Hijos de la selva [Sons of the Forest] about Max Schmidt. There were a whole lot of people.

"It's not just a matter of caring for the legacy of a German scientist. These images are the legacy of the people of Paraguay and to some extent, of Brazil," the actor Viggo Mortensen asserted last night as he presented the book, Hijos de la selva, that he is publishing through his publishing house, Perceval Press.

After four years, The Lord of the Rings star returned to Asunción, along with the Argentine researchers Diego Villar and Federico Bossert, this time to present work carried out in 2009. The book will be presented next Monday in Buenos Aires. Like a good publisher, Mortensen arrived at the packed auditorium of the Andrés Barbero Museum with a box of books and set them up in view of the audience. The actor laughed at the anecdotes his companions told about Max Schmidt and when it was his turn, resorted to reading from some notes.

"I hope that people in the government understand that the maintenance of this cultural legacy requires an investment of economic resources and institutional support for the operation of the Andrés Barbero Museum," the actor pleaded, after praising the work of director, Adelina Pussineri and her staff.

Then he answered some questions from the audience, and signed some quick autographs while he made his way out among his admirers.

"I had fun!"

"I had a lot of fun with the photos and I also learned about my friends' work," pointed out Mortensen, who explained the great interest that inspired him from his perspective as a photographer. Discovering Schmidt's images "is like seeing a film."

"This book's an incredible thing," exclaimed Mortensen, after opening a copy and, amazed, exhibiting some of the old, digitalized images. An hour before the beginning of the presentation, a long line of audience members began to form. Access was free but limited to 50 people. Slightly more than a hundred interested people had to stay outside. Villar opened the event with a brief overview about the German scientist. Continuing, Bossert referred to the four objectives of the book: the ethnologic aspect, Schmidt's humanist vision, restoring his [Schmidt's] reputation and highlighting the work of the Andrés Barbero Museum, which operates as a private entity. The researchers announced that they have decided to do two books, the second about the successor to Schmidt, Branislava Susnik and Mortensen said that for the launch [of that book], he would like to make huge enlargements of the images.