To continue our series on Colombian culture, we’d like to introduce you to some must-see Colombian films!
The aim of this post is not to list the best Colombian films of all time. In fact, it’s quite simple: it’s justa selection of films we’ve seen, enjoyed and recommend to you.
We can tell you that Colombian cinema is in full effervescence and deserves to be discovered!
Admittedly, many Colombian films deal with heavy, violent subjects linked to the country’s history. That said, we’ve tried to present an eclectic selection here, where you’ll find a mix of mainstream and arthouse films.
Disclaimer: we apologize in advance for any grammatical or syntactic errors, as our native language is not English (we're a Colombian-French couple), so we hope you'll forgive us and still enjoy the information we share with you! Please note that all the information on our blog is based on our own experience, and is checked and updated regularly.
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To help you see the films, we’ve searched the far corners of the internet! It’s not always easy to find ways to watch Colombian films, and some are simply impossible to find online.
When available, we opted for video-on-demand offers. They allow you to rent a film for the time it takes to watch it, at a reasonable price, which seemed to us to be the best option.
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La estrategia del caracol
Our opinion on the Colombian film La estrategia del caracol
Probably the first Colombian film to be shown internationally, winning awards at numerous festivals. La estrategia del caracol is a sort of feel-good movie before its time: we cry, we laugh, we see Bogotá from another era, we touch inequalities and we enter the heart of what makes the Colombian spirit. La estrategia del caracol is, in a way, the figurehead of Colombian social cinema, and it’s sure to have a following!
Film info
Location: Bogota
Original title: La estrategia del caracol
English title: The Strategy of the Snail
A film by Sergio Cabrera
Release date: 1993
Running time : 1 h 56min
Genre: Drama
Awards: Berlin, Havana, Portugal, Biarritz, Sundance Festival, Spanish Goya.
El abrazo de la serpiente
Our opinion on the Colombian film El abrazo de la serpiente
El abrazo de la Serpiente is a masterpiece. Quite simply. There’s not much more to say about it other than to advise you to rush out and see it. It’s a visual, political and spiritual slap in the face, with the Amazon and indigenous culture at its heart. An immersion in two different eras, the early 20th century, botanical expeditions and the invasion of Christian evangelists, and the 1940s and the exploitation of the forest to extract precious rubber. An initiatory film in which the spirit of the forest draws you in with its green mantle until it buries you.
Film info
Location: Vaupés, Guainia
Original title: El abrazo de la serpiente
English title: Embrace of the Serpent
A film by Ciro Guerra
Release date: 2015
Running time: 2 hours
Genre: Adventure
Awards: Film selected for the Oscars / Prize at the Sundance Festival and at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Festival
Pajaros de verano
Our opinion on the Colombian film Pajaros de verano
Another film by Ciro Guerra, who is proving himself to be one of Colombia’s greatest directors, spearheading the new generation of filmmakers. Birds of Passage plunges us into Guajira in the 1970s. There’s no angelic vision of the indigenous figure here, nor any self-pity for the fate of a poor and fragile population. No, this is a spiritual gangster film, an indigenous western, a Greek tragedy, in which Wayuu culture and the members of the community are shown unvarnished, lost between tradition and modernity, a confusion of feelings.
Film info
Film location: La Guajira
Original title : Pajaros de verano
English title : Birds of Passage
A film by Ciro Guerra & amp; Cristina Gallego
Release date : 2019
Running time: 2 hours
Genre : Thriller
Awards : Opening film of the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival
Los Hongos
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Our opinion on the Colombian film Los Hongos
Los Hongos is part of the new Colombian cinema movement, a cinema of the real, bordering on the documentary, a cinema that could have a direct filiation with English art house cinema. We follow two young people trying to make their way in the streets of Cali, passionate about street-culture, skateboarding, graffiti… we come across resourcefulness, the working-class condition, love, respect for elders and an energy all caleña!
Film info
Film location: Cali
Original title: Los Hongos
A film by Oscar Ruíz Navia
Release date: 2015
Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Genre: Social chronicle
Awards: Special Prize at the Rotterdam International Film Festival
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Los viajes del viento
Our opinion on the Colombian film Los viajes del viento
Ciro Guerra’s second film, the first to launch his career, is already a trademark: a blend of narrative force and documentary work. Always in the background, the weight of the territory, of the landscape, on the character of men, highlighted here by exceptional photography. In Les voyages du vent, the legend of the devil’s accordion takes us on a musical road movie in which the Vallenato is the central character.
Film info
Location: César, La Guajira, Magdalena, Sucre
Original title: Los viajes del viento
English title: The Wind Journeys
A film by Ciro Guerra
Release date: 2009
Running time: 1 h 57min
Genre : Musical road movie
Awards: Un Certain Regard selection Cannes Film Festival 2009
Where to see Los viajes del viento
Los viajes del viento can be viewed on YOUTUBE (OV without subtitles)
La cara oculta
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Our opinion on the Colombian film La cara oculta
Here’s a film that stands out from the rest of our selection! It’s one of the few films that doesn’t have a direct grip on historical or societal reality. It’s just a good thriller set between Bogotá and Spain, a film to be seen to scare yourself and have a good time.
Film info
Location: Bogota and Spain
Original title: La cara oculta
English title: Inside
A film by Andrés Baiz
Release date: 2012
Running time: 1h30
Genre: Thriller
Los silencios
Our opinion on the Colombian film Los silencios
Back to the Amazon with this film by a Brazilian director, but which we have chosen to include in this selection, as the story is totally rooted in the history of post-conflict Colombia. Los silencios is a dreamlike film in which the ghosts of war are transformed into multicolored spirits. It is reminiscent of the magical realism of Leticia , living to the rhythm of the Amazon River floods. Los silencios is an ode to feminine strength and the power of forgiveness.
Film info
Location: Leticia, Amazonia
Original title: Los silencios
A film by Beatriz Seigner (Brazilian)
Release date: 2019
Running time: 1 h 29min
Genre: Drama
Awards: Selected for the Directors’ Fortnight Cannes Film Festival 2018
La tierra y la sombra
Our opinion on the Colombian film la tierra y la sombra
La tierra y la sombra is the kind of suspended film that Colombian cinema of recent years has been particularly good at delivering (Gente de bien and El vuelco del cangrejo spring to mind). It’s a film in which nothing much happens, yet we get a taste of the essence of hard life in rural Colombia, of a class struggle that’s still very much alive. Here, it’s in the middle of the sugarcane fields, and the sublime, powerful images stick in our retinas.
Film info
Film location: Valle del Cauca
Original title: La tierra y la sombra
English title: Land and Shade
A film by César Acevedo
Release date: 2016
Running time: 1 h 37min
Genre : Drama
Awards: Caméra d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
Paraiso Travel
Our opinion on Paraiso Travel
A love story, the American dream, the ingredients of a good romantic film? Not at all… Paraiso Travel, despite its title, takes us into the whirlwind of illegal emigration to the United States. It’s a plunge into the underworld, a tough film, but one that also shows the protagonists’ strength to survive. A good film, a little more “mainstream” than the rest of our selection, enriched by a beautiful soundtrack with the famous El Hueco de la Mojarra Electrica.
Film info
Location: Medellin and New York
Original title: Paraiso Travel
A film by Simon Brand
Release date: 2008
Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Genre: Drama
Monos
Our opinion on Monos
Monos is a film about adolescence, the group and the human condition in wartime. It follows a band of teenagers trying to survive in the desert cold of the mountains, the stifling heat of the jungle, in the midst of hostile nature. In both cases, humidity reigns and dirty, oozing bodies are transformed into the animals ofa mythology whose name is known only to the members of the clan. A hard-hitting film at the crossroads of Apocalypse Now and Lord of the Flies that is anything but a film about the armed conflict in Colombia.
Film info
Location: Chingaza Park and Rio Samana
Original title: Monos
A film by Alejandro Landes
Release date: 2019
Running time: 1h40
Genre: Drama
Other Colombian films to see
In this post we’ve given you our ten favorite films of the moment. We could extend the list and we’ll probably do another post in a while, because obviously this list isn’t exhaustive, and we could mention other Colombian films that are worth a look and that we’ll certainly be talking about soon:
- Gente de bien
- El vuelco del cangrejo
- Cazando luciernagas
- Los dias de la ballena
- Manos sucias
- Amazona
- Matar a Jesus
- Alias Maria
- Maria full of grace
- La vendedora de rosas
- La virgen de los sicarios
- Silencio en el paraíso
- Les gens de la universal
- Eva Candela
- La Playa
- Entre el mar y la tierra
- La sombra del caminante
- Etc.
