Profiles: Carlos Gaviria | Proimágenes Colombia

Born in Bogotá, Colombia on February 9, 1956, Gaviria worked in television for many years and was director of photography on more than 20 feature films and documentaries in the US and Colombia. He has also directed documentaries, soaps and mini-series for major Colombian channels. He wrote, directed and edited his own first film Retratos en un mar de mentiras, one of Colombia’s most internationally successful releases in 2010; the film won three awards at the Guadalajara Film Festival and participated in major international festivals such as Berlin, Pusan and Montreal, to name only a few.
 
The director had this to say about his feature film debut: “Retratos en un mar de mentiras combines psychological and cultural elements to give the audience an idea of Colombian reality from the sharp perspective of the film’s young victim. It’s my own personal vision of the country. The audience is taken on a road trip through some of the country’s most representative landmarks: from the cold, damp high plains to the warm and breezy coastal highways. It’s an exuberant journey that highlights the ironic contrast between the natural beauty and human poverty that defines most of Colombia’s geography. The film is also an adventure into Marina’s tortured past.”
 
“There are close to 4.5 million displaced people in Colombia and entire families have been forced to flee their homes to avoid the violence generated by the armed conflict. A campaign of misinformation and propaganda – the ‘sea of lies’ to which the film’s title refers – has led people to believe these displaced people are in league with the different armed groups and therefore legitimate targets in the war. As a result, society has become indifferent to their fate… Retratos en un mar de mentiras portrays displaced people as victims of insane violence who deserve to be treated like human beings with the same rights as everyone else. The film hopes to contribute however slightly to the construction of a peaceful and fair Colombia,” explained Gaviria.
 
Carlos, or “El Negro” as he’s known in the business, has a Masters in Fine Arts from New York University’s Film Department. He spent several years in the US working as director of photography on productions such as Don’t Let Go starring Scott Wilson and Katherine Ross, winner of the Westchester Film Festival; The Ghost Club (2003); Undercurrent (1999); and A Gun, a Car, a Blonde, starring Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton, John Ritter and Jim Metzler.
 
His outstanding work as television director includes 30 one-hour episodes of “La ley del silencio”, a dramatic series produced by Freemantle Media for NBC/Telemundo in Dallas, Texas; 15 episodes of “Mujeres Asesinas” (2007) produced by Vista Producciones for RCN Televisión, winner of a TV y Novelas award for Best Dramatic Series in Colombia two years in a row and nominated for an India Catalina award for Best Series at the Cartagena International Film and Television Festival. He co-directed 60 one-hour episodes of the mini-series “Rosario Tijeras” broadcast by Canal RCN and produced in Medellín, Colombia by Teleset-Sony.
 
As a consultant for UNICEF, Gaviria created and directed several documentaries including 500 segundos: los hijos de Las Américas (1994), broadcast on over 250 channels around the world. He also directed Minas (1995), a 25-minute documentary about Colombia’s coalmines that won Best Director and Best Editor in Colombia and was part of the official selection at the Cinéma du Réel Documentary Festival in Paris, France. In 2006 Gaviria directed and co-produced with Franz Baldassini, the documentary film Declaraciones de guerra, broadcast on the Starz Encore channel in the US over a period of 18 months.