The seventeenth edition of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival took place from August 22 to September 1, with a wide Colombian presence that included the screening of five feature films and one short, as well as the participation of different guests
The Vancouver Latin American Film Festival – VLAFF – is one of the most prestigious cultural events in North America. All productions that address Latin American themes are presented with the objective of sharing, reflecting and showing the diversity of our countries and directing gazes towards new cinematographic narrations. In addition, it has the mission to provide a forum for the promotion and screening of Latin American films in this Canadian city.
Within the festival’s selection of feature length films, Colombia was represented this year by Pájaros de verano by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, a co-production with Mexico, Denmark and France that portrays the origin of drug trafficking in Colombia at the end of 1960s. Since its premiere, the film has had a successful tour in festivals, among the most recent are the IV Quito Film Festival where it was the opening film and the Colombian Film Festival New York.
The documentary La sinfónica de los Andes, a co-production between Colombia and Bolivia, by Colombian director Marta Rodríguez, who filmed this material with her husband Jorge Silva as the result of various investigations into the culture and problems of the Colombian indigenous people. This is a documentary on the Nasa indigenous children, victims of the armed conflict in the Cauca region of Colombia, where the majority of the country’s indigenous cultures are settled, but also the place where the armed conflict has had the greatest intensity during the last 60 years. This is the setting for a traditional music orchestra led by indigenous teenagers, which is born to pay homage to deceased children. The production by Fundación CINE documental with Hollywoodoo Films, in co-production with Visual Arts Factory, received the Incentive for documentary feature film post-production from the Film Development Fund – FDC. It was also part of the fifty-ninth Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival– FICCI – 2019.
The festival’s opening film was Los silencios, the second film from the Brazilian director, Beatriz Seigner, a co-production between Día Fragma Fábrica de Películas (Colombia), Miríade Filmes (Brasil) and Ciné-Sud Promotion (France). Starred by Marleyda Soto, Enrique Díaz, María Paula Tabares and Adolfo Savinino, the film is a trip through the sounds of nature, a heartening and magical story about a Colombian family displaced by the armed conflict. The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Festival Filmmakers Fortnight (2018) and has participated in nearly 30 festivals in the world, amongst which the following stand out: the San Sebastián Festival in the Latin Horizons Section, the Lima International Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Montreal Film Festival, amongst others. Recently, it was part of the fifth edition of the Bogotá Independent Film Festival – IndieBo.
Cantadoras. Memorias de vida y muerte en Colombia by María Fernanda Carillo is a documentary that shows five Afro-Colombian women who sing about life and death in their villages through traditional music and funeral songs from the Pacific and the Caribbean. The feature length film was the Project Selected for Dissection – DocuLab 5 of the Guadalajara International Film Festival and the Feature Film Postproduction Prize Winning Project – GenderLab of the Mexico City International Film Festival.
Lastly, Yo, imposible, by Venezuelan director Patricia Ortega, a co-production from Antorcha Films (Colombia) and Mandrágora Films Zulia C.A. (Venezuela), tells the story of Ariel when she discovers that she was subject to various surgeries to correct her intersex body. This revelation makes her question whether she should remain as a “normal” and oppressed woman or dare to find herself despite the gender barriers. The film’s photography was directed by Mateo Guzmán (La tierra y la sombra) and its was starred by Colombian actress Lucía Bedoya. Its participation in festivals includes the Venezuelan Film Festival, the Chicago Latin Film Festival and the Panama International Film Festival, amongst others.
María de los esteros by Eugenio Gómez Borrero participated in the shorts competitive section. This short tells the story of María, a woman who lives in mangroves touching the mud in the search for mangrove bivalve and unearthing memories. The mangrove that was once a source of life, is now a cemetery of those who refused to leave the territory. But María, despite everything, refuses to leave her land and her ghosts. The short has been at festivals such as the Bogotá Shorts Festival – BOGOSHORTS, the Popayán Short Film Festival and the International Colombian Film Festival in Buenos Aires.
