Del Otro Lado
PerSo Award
By Iván Guarnizo
Colombia, 2021, 96’
Monday, Oct. 03, Méliès Cinema , Via della Viola 1, 5:30 p.m.
(Repeat) Tuesday, Oct. 04, Zenith Cinema, Via Benedetto Bonfigli, 5, 4 p.m.
SCHEDA FILM
International Title: On the other side
Production Company: Gusano Films (COLOMBIA)
Producers: Jorge Caballero, Pablo de la Chica
Co-producer: Company/Country Salon Indien Films (SPAIN)
Executive Producers: Jorge Caballero, Pablo de la Chica, Rosa Mercedes Caballero
Cinematographer: Carlos Villaoslada
Editor: Ariadna Ribas, Iván Guarnizo
Sound Editor: Alejandro Castillo
Composer: Nicolás Muñoz M.
Still photographer: Iván Guarnizo
Scriptwriter: Iván Guarnizo and Nuria Polo
SINOPSYS
My mom died days after the beginning of the peace talks with the FARC guerrilla group. Before she died, she told me that she had forgiven them and that she didn’t want anyone else to live her experience. She had been kidnapped for almost two years in a corner of the jungle. My brother and I had never talked about it before. We had even forgotten the diary that she had been allowed to write and that she brought with her, and in which she recorded the worst 603 days of her life. Reading the diary propels us into a precipice. We located places, deciphered names, and began a journey through jungles and mountains following the trail of her pain but also looking for the guerrillas who guarded her. These guerrillas occupy a large part of that diary, and we discovered that they actually developed a close relationship with her, almost like a mother/son bond between them. Maybe those guerrillas are now demobilized, so we set out to find them. To follow mom’s wake is to follow the path of forgiveness. We wonder if at the end of this journey we will also be able to forgive.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
The peace agreement reached with the FARC guerrilla it’s an historic step to achieve real peace in Colombia. That conflict was the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, it started in 1964 and ended in 2016. 52 years of war. I’m aware this is not the end of the road, it just means there will be absence of war with this particular group, Colombia’s conflict is a very complex one, with many groups in game.
However real peace is a process, something we have to achieve between all of us. I do believe that it is very important to get to know the other side; that side that has always been pictured as delinquents, thugs or even demons. That side that has fought the state and in the meantime they end up attacking, killing and kidnapping civilians.
My mom showed me a lesson when she told me she had forgiven. I’m not saying that each victim has to follow the same path but I think that precisely that path brings true reconciliation. Getting to know the people who were behind our pain – and maybe understand their own pain- will be healing not just for us, but maybe for them as well. But this is a very delicate process, the agreements are not stable and the current government is dismantling such agreements, the situation is getting worse every day.
Iván Guarnizo
Editor, cinematographer and director with almost twenty years in the audiovisual industry, Iván has worked in a wide variety of formats and topics, from feature films and documentaries to smaller pieces and videos, working around the globe from the Americas to Africa and Asia.
His most reputable work has been as an editor of awarded feature films including: “Patient” by Jorge Caballero (IDFA 2015 – official feature selection and many more).
“Not all is vigil” by Hermes Paralluelo (2014 San Sebastian official selection and more).
He has been focusing lately as a director and cinematographer, directing both feature films and smaller videos. His latest work: The feature documentary “On the other side” (soon to be released) has gained support from various international funds as 2019 IDFA’s Bertha fund and 2019 Tribeca Film Institute’s All Access fund.
FILMOGRAPHY
Editor: No todo es vigilia (2014)
Director: On the other side (2021)