The Embassy of Colombia Supports the Colombian Film Festival in Berlin: "Panorama Colombia"
The second edition of the Festival was held from 26th to 29th May 2016
June 13th, 2016The second edition of the Colombian Film Festival, "Panorama Colombia", was held in Berlin, at the Kino Moviemento, located in the district of Kreuzberg. It was attended by an international audience based in Berlin, as well as by the Colombian community. The festival presented a varied program including feature films, documentaries, a series of short films (in cooperation with the Short Film Festival Bogotá Bogoshorts) and a series of video art.
In recent years, improvements in security and peace-building as well as the rise of a clear economic leadership in Colombia, have encouraged significant growth to the cinematographic industry, allowing the country to create its own place in a global market for exhibition, and promote an open discussion about Colombia's cinematography on an influential level. A few examples of Colombian cinematography in Europe include the well-known Colombian film festivals in Paris, London and Barcelona. Berlin is the newest European city to host Colombia's cinematography. The German capital is an ideal location for the film festival to be held, with Berlin representing the heart of a new, artistic way of European thinking.
The festival opened with the acclaimed film ‘The embrace of the snake’ (Ciro Guerra). For four days it offered the audience some of the best productions of contemporary cinema of Colombia. ‘All Started by the End’ ( Luis Ospina), ‘The Silence of the River’ (Carlos Tribiño), and ‘Earth and Shadow’ (Cesar Acevedo), were among other films screened. The festival closed with the film, ‘Letter to a Shadow’ (Daniela Abad), inspired by the book ‘The Forgetting we will be’, by Hector Abad Faciolince. Faciolince was present at the screening of the film and spoke to the audience following the projection.
The successful implementation of this initiative (which had the support of the Embassy of Colombia to Germany through the Promotion Plan of Colombia Abroad) meant a step forward in efforts to consolidate the positive image of Colombia, demonstrating that Colombian cinema plays an increasingly significant role in the international arena.
Our main objective is to help raise awareness of the diversity and quality of authentic Colombian films amongst Berliners and the German public in general. The focus of Filmes Mutantes has been to forge a way to promote and recognise Colombian cinematography around the world.
References and Links
News from Berlin
Iñaqui Gonzalez, Berlin Global