Four films in Brazil and two in France represent Colombia in the most recent editions of these two festivals.
Since 1990, the Sao Paulo Short Film Festival has become a landmark in the city's cultural agenda for its vast and diverse program, screened in several theaters and cultural centers. Each year it brings together about 400 films from numerous countries, displaying the diversity of short film creation worldwide. The 33rd edition of the event ended on August 28, with the participation of 29 Latin American productions.
Colombia was represented by El video (The video), by Omar E. Ospina Giraldo; and Invisibles, by Esteban García Garzón. In the former, Venezuelan immigrants Jesús and Noé make a living in a downtown business called "El Video." They must face an uncomfortable situation to make extra money. The latter is a short film previously selected for the Fribourg, Cartagena de Indias, Olhar Cinema, and Clermont-Ferrand festivals. It portrays Azen, a 9-year-old boy who starts seeing strange beings in the jungle. He must now choose between entering their magical world or allowing the jungle to continue to fill up with dead bodies from the war.
Todas mis cicatrices se desvanecen en el viento (All My Scars Fade in the Wind), by Angélica Restrepo and Carlos Velandia, is produced by the National University of Colombia and Sebastián Jaimes. In it, amid intrusive memories, a woman hears a troubling call deep inside her. An enigmatic cry for help leads her to her original wound, her inner child, to become her own protector. The short film was part of the Film Students Short Film Competition in the latest edition of the Annecy Festival.
Finally, the documentary Two-Spirit, by Monica Taboada-Tapia, follows Georgina, a trans woman living in a small indigenous community in northern Colombia. She arrived in the community over ten years ago but has never received any understanding from her neighbors. Georgina's feelings of humiliation and isolation are palpable in shots of her daily life and symbolic landscapes as she shares her thoughts in voiceover. She counters the hostility surrounding her by saying, "I only have love." The short film was previously part of the IDFA Documentary Short Film Competition 2021 and the MiradasDoc and Clermont-Ferrand festivals in 2022.
Two short films in Biarritz
The Biarritz Latin American Film Festival has been held annually since 1979 to promote Latin American cinema and culture among the French and to present distribution and co-production opportunities to Latin American filmmakers. The Festival features films from different genres and aims to discover Latin American culture through literary encounters, photo exhibitions, academic conferences, and concerts. For its 31st edition, from September 26 to October 2, it announced the films in its Official Short Film Competition, which included two Colombian films.
The first one on the list is Zarzal by Sebastián Valencia Muñoz. This short film takes the viewer to Colombia in the early 1990s and shows five-year-old Jacobo riding his father's car for long days. At his age, everything is a game. He is unaware of his father's true search, despite the constant stories about missing and dead people. This autobiographical portrait also refers to one of Colombia's most terrifying and bloody decades of war. The short film is part of the REFRESH Vol.3 Colombian Short Film Catalog. It will have its European premiere during the Festival after being part of the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival (FICCI), Buenos Aires International Film Festival (BAFICI), Chicago Latino Film Festival, Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF), BuSho Film Festival, and Concorto Film Festival, among others.
Biarritz will also hold the world premiere of La Sixtina, a short film with the story of Vincho. He is a street dweller, garbage recycler, and inventor who reproduces the Sistine Chapel under a bridge. Vincho uses what he receives most from the city and transforms it into something sublime. The film is directed by Juan Camilo Fonnegra, produced by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza, and distributed by Bogoshorts Film Agency.
In addition, as part of its musical concert program, the Festival will feature Colombian bands Contento and Sistema Nkumba. Contento is a project by Paulo Olarte Toro and Sebastián Hoyos, which uses salsa punk to showcase their vision of salsa, cumbia, and boogaloo. Sistema Nkumba is a fusion between Central Africa and Colombia, composed of Cindy Pooch, Jhon Socha, Simba Daniel Evousa, and Cédrick Bec, Colombian, Cameroonian, and Cuban musicians. It was founded in Bogota by guitarist Guillo Cros.
