Profiles: Claudia Fischer | Proimágenes Colombia

Claudia Fischer is a versatile Colombian artist working in various genres of art. She has a degree in painting from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She then studied restoration of easel paintings, mural paintings, and wood paintings, as well as furniture design, in Italy.
 
From age seventeen, Fischer has worked in a range of artistic fields, including as a painter and a conservator of mural paintings, easel paintings, painted sculptures, and altars. She has also worked as a furniture designer; an art director for television series; an art director for films such as Juan Fischer’s Looking for Miguel (2005); and a production designer for films including Carlos Gaviria’s Portraits in a Sea of Lies (2010).
 
Fischer has lived and worked in France, Italy, and Colombia. She currently works as a documentary filmmaker, holding positions as director, producer, and director of photography. In addition, she is a co-founder of the Tierra y Casa Foundation, which carries out projects supporting income generation for Colombian women farmers and craftswomen.
 
Fischer’s directorial debut, the documentary Ati y Mindhiwa, was screened at numerous international festivals, including the Festival FILMAR en América Latina; the Viewster Online Film Festival; the KO&digital Solidarity Film Festival; the 2014 London Film Awards; the Cine Las Americas festival in Austin, Texas; the Dournenez Film Festival in France; the 17th Bogota International Documentary Screening (MIDBO); the National Indigenous Film Screening (DAUPARA); and the Milan International Film Festival.
 
It also received the Merit Award and Golden Award from the 2014 International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Comedy in Jakarta, Indonesia; the Best Editing and Best Documentary Director awards at the 2015 International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in London; and Best Documentary at the 2015 St. Tropez International Film Festival, the 2015 Madrid International Film Festival, the Tenerife International Film Festival, and the 2015 Latino & Iberian Film Festival at Yale University (LIFFY).
 
Commenting on the film, the director said, “This documentary is above all restorative. Through the two sisters’ journey, the audience will come to understand the tenacity needed to travel within ourselves, and for the sisters to grow their branches without forgetting their roots. This is how we achieve mutual understanding.” Fischer added, “This is the essence of South American women, which we can find throughout our own mothers’ generation.”

Last updated: October 2016.