History of Colombian Cinema
Like many Central American countries, cinema arrived very early in Colombia's history. As early as 1897, the first projections of the Lumière brothers' cinematograph took place in Bogotá and Colón, while Edison's representatives distributed vitascopes and kinetoscopes throughout the country. The tumultuous context of the beginning of the century, marked by the Thousand Days' War, put a stop to the nascent national production. It was resumed in the 1910s, when cinemas flourished. In Bogotá, the Teatro Olympia - now destroyed - was inaugurated in 1912, a huge theater with 5,000 seats. In the early 1920s, filmmakers Alfredo del Diestro and Máximo Calvo Olmedo made the first Colombian feature film, soberly titled María (1922), initiating a period of splendor for Colombian production. The arrival of talking pictures, and the increased competition from Mexican and Hollywood productions, would greatly complicate the situation of the industry in the following decades, despite repeated attempts to revive the national studios. It was not until the early 2000s that Colombian cinema began to recover, thanks to structured and effective state aid. Nevertheless, there are some outstanding films of the twentieth century, including The Blue Lobster (1954) co-written by Gabriel García Márquez and Enrique Grau, the Cannes award-winning documentary Our Voice of the Earth, Memory and Future by Jorge Silva, Marta Rodriguez (1982) or The Strategy of the Snail
by Victor Cabrera (1993). Works that depict the reality of Colombian society of their time. A new generation of filmmakers gives today its letters of nobility to Colombian cinema. Ciro Guerra's Embrace of the Serpent (2015), inspired by indigenous shamanism, will take you into the dense forests of the departments of Guainía and Vaupés, before ending on the Cerros de Mavecure. Documentary filmmaker Catalina Mesa will show you the thousand facets of the city of Jericó in her film The infinite flight of days (2014), a luminous vision of the village of her childhood, protected from the wars and troubles that have marked the history of the country. Finally, Alejandro Landes delivers with Monos (2019) a dystopia with the air of a dark teenage movie , shot in the heart of the Chingaza National Natural Park. Proof that the Colombian cinema has from now on beautiful days before him.Colombia, star of the international cinema
Beyond national productions, Colombia has inspired many filmmakers, the most iconoclastic of which is undoubtedly the Italian Ruggero Deodato, author of the terrifying Cannibal Holocaust (1980). Censored in several countries, the film recounts the misadventures of a film crew searching for cannibal tribes, and the discoveries that the rescue team will make while trying to find the missing crew. A monument of the horror and gore cinema, sensitive souls should absolutely abstain. For those of you who would go into the movie, you will probably recognize the small town of Leticia, base camp of the rescue team sent by the American government.
Also intriguing, but less difficult to savor, is Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), which pits Robert de Niro, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson against each other in an anti-slavery tale, filmed between Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia. You will be able to walk in the footsteps of these actors in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a mountain range located in northern Colombia.
A region that also hosted the filming of The Lost City of Z by James Gray (2016), with Charlie Hunnam, Edward Pattinson and Tom Holland. A great adventure film tinged with mystery, based on the true story of the Englishman Percival Fawcett, who disappeared in the 1920s while searching for this mythical city in the heart of the Colombian forest.
More recently, Colombia was the setting for the impressive film Memoria, Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, by Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2021) and starring Tilda Swinton at the top of her game. This film shot between Bogotá and Pijao will take you on a journey through the landscapes of Colombia through the wanderings of Tilda Swinton's character, in search of a sound that only she can hear. A masterpiece of contemplative cinema flirting with the metaphysical. Between noise and silence, far from being metaphorical here, discover El olvido que seremos (2021), the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Héctor Abad, a tribute to his father, a doctor and human rights defender in Colombia in the 1970s and 80s. In the same year, the animated film Encanto: The Fantastic Madrigal Family from Disney Studios (2021) used Colombia as the setting for its coming-of-age story, without naming it, with a backdrop of wild songs that are already a cult.
On the series side, it is obviously the series Narcos, created by Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato and Doug Miro (2015-2017) that puts the great Colombian cities on the screen. Thus, the series travels between Bogotá, Cartagena, Cali and Medellín in the footsteps of the drug trafficker
Another more recent production, La reina del flow by Andres Salgado (2018-2021) will also take you to Medellín, but with music, while Frontera Verde (2019) will plunge you into the Amazon jungle, in a True Detective-like atmosphere.
Being a cinephile in Colombia
With more than 220 theaters throughout the country, and different festivals between Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena, you will not lack opportunities during your stay. Colombia also boasts the largest IMAX screen in Latin America at the Procinal Cinema in Bogotá. Finally, the city of Cali is home to the Museo Caliwood, which is run by an enthusiast and contains many objects and posters related to the history of national cinema. A must-see if you are passionate about the seventh art.
