Happy new year!
As 2013 makes a grand entrance, this is my opportunity to feature one of my future projects: The Colombian Film Festival taking place in New York City in March. As a proud Colombian, I had to take advantage of the opportunity of being part of our very first film festival on US soil (Brazil and Cuba are the other two Latin American countries who have their own festivals in the US). This is a great opportunity for Colombia’s film-making to get exposure and also to set the bar for future Colombian film festivals in other cities. NYC awaits me as the festival’s chief of press relations. If you want to know more about the festival visit:
Website: colfilmny.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ColFilmNYC
Twitter: twitter.com/ColFilmFestNYC
Here’s some info about this year’s line-up and the summary of some of the films, for more detailed info visit the official website:
New York City, NY – The Colombian Film Festival is proud to announce the line-up of films selected to screen at the festival taking place at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City from March 20th until March 24th 2013. Over 45 entries replied to our first film submission for the festival, we are humbled by the response and extremely delighted to present to you the festival program, consisting of feature films, documentaries, shorts, forums, US and World Premieres and press conferences.
Juan Carvajal, director of the Colombian Film Festival, said “this is an unbelievable opportunity to feature the best of Colombia’s cinema at the Big Apple; this is a turning point for Colombian filmmaking to showcase just days before the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival”.
The Colombian Consulate of New York City proudly sponsors the Colombian Film Festival. The Colombian Film Festival is pleased to have talent including actors, producers and directors from the featured films participating at the event presenting their films as well as forums, press conferences and opening night festivities.
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For more information about the festival and participating films please visit: colfilmny.com
US Premieres
Apatia – (Director Arturo Ortegón) The action takes place during Easter week. In this short time, plenty happens. Julián is a writer who has lost interest in life and contemplates committing suicide as a last gesture of inconformity; at the same time, his friend travels to the coast for no particular reason other than to assuage his boredom. Julian’s tragic end forces his friend to literally pull over and try to wrap his head around what has happened. But his words only serve to echo the emptiness felt by a generation teetering on the brink of nothingness.
Sofia y El Terco – (Director Andrés Burgos) Sofia and her husband live in a small village in the Colombian countryside. Their life has just been a long repetition of facts for years. They grew here, married and they know everybody in the village. He is the owner of a grocery store. She makes everything in their house: she chooses his clothes in the morning, prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner, feeds the birds, cleans… And she has an old dream: she wants to go to the sea whereas she has always known mountains. But Gustavo always has good reasons to delay the trip. He cannot let his grocery store; his employee cannot get by himself… So that Sofia will need a help, from her friend Mercedes for example. Or she will have to take charge.
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San Andresito (Director Alessandro Angulo) In Sanandresito, a renowned commerce zone in Bogotá, you can find anything: fashion shoes, expensive perfumes, mobile phones, candies and movies. All you seek, all you’ll find. Wilson Tenorio a spontaneous police officer that works there can evidence it. He craves a promotion in his institution but is not willing to be at pains to do so. Things will change when he’s falsely involved in the murder of Tatiana, a girl from Sanandresito, who’s found in the official car driven by Tenorio. The useless agent must put into practice what he “learned” in the police department for the first time in his life: he has to discover the real murderer of Tatiana before the police -leaded by Sergeant Fanny his girlfriendcaptures him and before Felix -the dangerous bodyguard and Tatiana’s boyfriend- blinded by the pain, finds him and erroneously takes revenge on him. What will happen first?
World Premiere
Volver a Morir – (Director Miguel Urrutia) Camila wakes up and does not know where she is, naked, next to Dario, a mysterious man who seduces her and in a moment of passion kills her. She returns back in time at the exact moment she wakes up and gets stuck in a dead end die again and again, however, every time she sees in the dark mind of the murderer keys to try to save his life.
Feature Films
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Chocó – (Director Johnny Hendrix) A hard-working woman with two children and a drunkard for a husband. In the mornings, Choco works in a gold mine along the San Juana River. In the afternoons she cleans clothes for richer families. And when her daughter turns 7, the only thing Choco wants is to buy her a birthday cake, a humble wish that could change her life. Chocó is the story of a woman from the rural areas in the pacific coast of Colombia, subjugated by her husband and by the dominant male tradition from this part of the country. She portrays the life of many women who undergo violence and mistreatment at home not only in Colombia but in the entire world.
180 Segundos –(Director Alexander Giraldo) Zico is the leader of the most respected group of thieves in the city. His crimes are most of the time are perfect: no bullets, no wounded, not single evidence that could trace him back left behind. When his last job comes around, Zico and his sister Angelica hope to leave the country to start a new life. In order for Zico to complete this last job, he plans a robbery that must be completed in three exact minutes. However, behind his master plan, Zico does not see coming: a long lost love, a special unit of the police that has already targeted them and a soccer match that has the entire city’s attention. Zico’s life, his sister’s life and nine other people’s live cross paths in 180 seconds that show average human beings, that laugh, cry, love, want to love, steal and do not want to die. 180 Seconds will show the best and the worst in these human beings.
La Lectora – (Director Riccardo Gabrielli R) La Lectora is the story of a college girl that is kidnapped by chance, by a couple of bad guys, so she can translate a manuscript and confirm an urban legend. Somewhere in the city lies a treasure, a hidden briefcase. This mysterious manuscript tells the story of a couple, Karen, a stripper and Cachorro, a young and ambitious cab driver. They hide the briefcase in a secret location to escape an ambush. Now they will risk their lives in order to get to it, because it contains the longing of a new life. In reality and possible fiction, these two parallel stories will show the culture of ambition, wealthy pasts, uncertain futures, love and the dream of freedom.
Documentaries
Apaporis –(Directed by Antonio Dorado Zúñiga) Apaporis captures unknown and paradisiac landscapes in a film diary across the Colombian Amazon jungle, following the steps of the father of ethno botany Richard Evans Schultes, from Mitu to the Apaporis river, documenting indigenous knowledge, revealing myths and secrets to bring the dead back to life. Apaporis could be cataloged as an auto-reflexive documentary, in which its main questions revolve around the extinction of languages and ancient knowledge, the film showcases unique experiences in this often unexplored corner of the Amazon jungle. Some of the experiences are told by one of Schultes students, Wade Davis, National Geographic explorer and author of the best seller “El Rio”.
Toto –(Director Héctor Francisco Córdoba Castaño) Toto, is a trip down the Colombian Caribbean coast, because of its people, landscapes, traditions and music, this road allows us to comprehend their songs and instruments from singers such as “Toto, La Momposina”, icon of Colombian music and culture, a woman that with an almost poetic language, will narrate their culture and traditions along the way, up to a concert in Bogota, where the most important Caribbean musicians will meet.
Shorts
Koko – Clowns or Mimes? – (Director Mateo Stivelberg) In a world devastated by the shortage of resources and the degradation of moral values, a war takes place without the awareness of its citizens. Clowns vs Mimes; a millenary dispute that’s been settled since the beginning of our era. Koko, an old clown soldier with a dark past, breaks into the house of Mime, a very orthodox but dangerous mime. He’s mission: finding the codes that will disable a hidden bomb in the Clown’s headquarters. Koko will pull out all of his most cruel and violent tricks to achieve the impossible, making a mime talk.
Rush -(Juan Fischer) A motorcycle messenger has to deliver a life organ. He breaks every traffic law to get there on time, but is looking for the wrong place in Manhattan. Now only 5 min remain to get to Brooklyn to save a woman’s life.
What do you think of the Colombian Film Festival? Let us know in the comments!
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