Proimágenes Colombia

While he was in prison for drug trafficking in Barcelona, Hernando Toro began his career as a photographer. For more than a decade, and from a cell that he turned into a professional studio, Hernando took thousands of portraits of people who, like him, lived behind bars. Criminals, murderers, guilty and innocent posed in front of his lens and were part of an unexpected work that celebrates the "grotesque" and reveals the beauty of the marginal. His camera became the mental escape for many, because thanks to photography they reached moments of deep freedom. Despite the richness of his work and having managed to exhibit in emblematic galleries in Europe while he was deprived of his freedom, much of Toro's archive was forgotten once he was outside the jail. 25 years later this documentary recovers his negatives and explores not only his paths, but also part of the unpublished archive that becomes an important element to understand the dynamics of a prison such as Barcelona ones. During this process the activated memories, their irreverent stories and the authenticity of their portraits, contrast with a present in which loneliness and anonymity seem to surround him. What we began years ago as a question for the past, has become in the sighting of the last years of this magnificent artist. In this process, the construction of a friendship between the directors and the character, gradually became the guiding thread of the evolution of this film.

Documentary. 75 min. Colombia.
Produced by: Gusano Films

GUSANO FILMS:

GusanoFilms is a production company created in Barcelona and Bogotá in 2008, which develops and produces non-fiction films and explores the possibilities between documentary and technology, through digital, interactive and immersive formats. Their  films have been part of important festivals such as IDFA, Cinéma du Réel, Visions du Réel, Biarritz, Thessaloniki, IFF Oslo and  Munich.

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