Profiles: Claudia Triana de Vargas | Proimágenes Colombia

After 35 years of hard work on behalf of Colombia's film industry, Claudia Triana de Vargas celebrates the seventeenth anniversary of PROIMAGENES Colombia, the Fondo Mixto de Promoción Cinematográfica (Film Promotion Fund) which she has directed since its founding in 1998. A long career in the field of cultural management has allowed this Bogota native with a degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Navarra (Spain) to bring to fruition several projects that have contributed to the promotion and development of the country's film industry.
 
"I've spent 35 years working with the Colombian film industry on a number of fronts, but the last 17 years with PROIMAGENES have allowed me to meet and learn about the global industry and make my own small contribution to moving Colombia onto the world stage. It is a great satisfaction when a film finally reaches the public and you realize you've been able to follow the entire process, from designing grant programs to identifying spaces where projects can grow and, finally, supporting their national and international distribution."
 
Her studies in film archives, film and television scripts, audiovisual documentation, Latin American cinema, cultural services, organizational development and strategic planning have provided the tools needed to create promotional strategies and mechanisms in the audiovisual sector since the end of the 80s. She was the director of the Bogota's Cinemateca Distrital where she worked for six years to consolidate a number of projects including the creation of a library and expanding the film archive, making preservation of the nation's film heritage a priority and successfully negotiating the organization's acceptance into the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). Her legacy includes the creation of the Cuadernos de Cine Colombiano (Colombian Film Files), a monographic series designed to highlight and document the work of Colombian filmmakers, which is still consulted by the public.
 
She supported the creation of Colombia's Film Heritage Foundation and was its executive director for nine years, serving on its board until 2002. While at the Foundation she made advances in recovery and classification and increased awareness of the importance of recovering the nation's moving image memory. Among her achievements while in this post is the publication of the book Tiempos del Olimpia by Jorge Nieto and Diego Rojas.
 
In 1998, Triana became director of PROIMAGENES Colombia, a private non-profit organization created by the General Culture Law (Law 397 of 1997) bringing together representatives from across the sector to design, consolidate and promote the nation’s film industry and preserve its audiovisual heritage. In 2003, she participated actively in the design and accompanied the implementation process for Law 814, Colombia's Film Law, providing new resources for the promotion of national cinematography and tax incentives to those who invest in it. The law also created the Film Development Fund (FDC). Since then, the rise of film production in Colombia has been evident. She led efforts to create an international program promoting the presence and visibility of Colombian films in different international markets, festivals and  academic spaces and, in 2007, was a driving force behind the Film Commission program designed to formulate and create the New Film Law (Law 1556 of 2012), which promotes the country as "scenario for film production."
 
For 17 years running PROIMAGENES has worked continuously to strengthen and promote Colombia's film industry at home and abroad, helping to create industry communications networks through websites and the weekly PANTALLA COLOMBIA newsletter, designing training events for members of the audiovisual industry, publishing books of vital importance to the development of Colombian cinema, and securing maximum quality control certification (ISO 9001:2008) for PROIMAGENES Colombia. Triana also administers the FDC resources and those of the Colombian Filming Fund (FFC) and, as director of PROIMAGENES Colombia, she is in charge of the Technical Secretariat of the National Council of Film Arts and Culture (CNACC) and takes an active role in the CPFC (Film Promotion Committee of Colombia).
 
In addition to all this work administering and promoting Colombian cinema, she acted as executive producer on in several productions including En busca de María (1985) by Jorge Nieto and Luis Ospina; Slapstick, la comedia muda norteamericana (1986) by Luis Ospina; Más allá de la tragedia del silencio (1987) by Jorge Nieto and Nuestra película (1993) by Luis Ospina and Lorenzo Jaramillo.
 
Her experience has earned her a place on juries in numerous film events such as the VIII Super 8 Film Festival in Caracas (1983), the Colombian Ministry of Culture's National Film Competitions (1998), the Bogotá Film Festival (1999), the Guadalajara International Film Festival (2007) and the ALBA Prize at the Latin American Film Festival in Havana, Cuba (2012).