Ver Cine Colombiano: Noticias | Proimágenes Colombia

The 54th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) came to a close on February 9. This event is one of the five most important film festivals in Europe, alongside Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno. It focuses on supporting emerging talents through its industry activities and co-production markets.

The festival featured Llueve sobre babel  (It Rains Over Babel, Colombia, United States, Spain), directed and written by Gala del Sol, who participated in the Bright Future program. Produced by Gala del Sol Films and Fábrica Mundi LLC, the story follows a group of outcasts who converge at Babel, a legendary dive bar that also serves as a purgatory, where La Flaca, the grim reaper of the city, presides. In this place, souls gamble away years of their lives, daring to outwit death itself. The film was presented at the event following its world premiere at the 41st Sundance Film Festival.

Colombia’s participation also included Este no es tu jardín (This Is Not Your Garden) by Carlos Velandia and Angélica Restrepo, produced by Experimenta. The film was part of the Short & Mid-length program after winning the Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM 15) in the ROUGH SHORTS category (Short Film Editing Lab). The short explores the evolution, mutation, and eventual decline or disappearance of forests and their fauna. Over time, human activity has tested their ability to recover, as seen in Colombia’s tropical páramos and its highland cloud forests, forming the basis of the narrative.

In addition to the two films, the event featured the presence of Daniela Echeverri, producer of Otro jardín (Another Garden), and María Paula Jiménez Trujillo, producer of Naufragio en Babel (Shipwreck in Babel). During BAM 15, around 40 awards were presented, including the Film Projects category (feature-length documentary and fiction projects). Otro jardín, directed by Mariana Gil Ríos and produced by Movimiento Cine, received a fast track to BrLab Features in Brazil, while its producer, Daniela Echeverri, was awarded the Rotterdam LAB fast track. In the same category, Naufragio en Babel, directed by Andre del Sur and produced by Cinespecimen, won the opportunity to participate in Cinemart at Rotterdam LAB and the WARMI LAB 2025 at the Málaga Festival Fund & Co-Production Event.

The Rotterdam Festival is highly regarded by Colombian filmmakers due to its disruptive approach to new narratives and experimental cinema, providing a platform for other forms of cinema on the global scene. Colombian producer Valentina Arango, based in Chile, also participated in Rotterdam LAB after applying with her project La cuarta pared (The Fourth Wall).

Proimágenes' partnership with the International Film Festival Rotterdam has endured for several years, enabling producers who have won awards in the Film Projects category at BAM to join the festival’s industry space, IFFR Pro, as part of the Rotterdam LAB. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Rotterdam LAB, with 71 filmmakers from around the world in attendance.