Latin American & Iberian Collections:

Videos from Colombia

(Our videos ARE NOT FOR SALE, some may be available for purchase at the Las Americas Film Network)

1. Agustín Codazzi epopeya geografica, Mady Samper et al., 1 videorecording (49 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
   Notes: Performer Note: Carlos Eduardo Santa, Jorge Espinoza.
   Abstract: Pictures and words from the works of explorer and geographer Agustín Codazzi.

2. La Casa de Hemingway, Mady Samper et al., 1 videocassette, Bogotá, Colombia, 1999.
   Abstract: A tour of Ernest Hemingway's home in Cuba.

3. La chicha bebida ancestral, Mady Samper and Gloria Stella Pinilla, 1 videorecording (59 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
   Abstract: History and culture surrounding an indigenous beverage called chicha, made from corn by the Cuna Indians.

4. Cities in crisis what's happening?, Mady Samper, Ray Witlin, and Universal Education and Visual Arts, 1 videorecording (22 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
   Abstract: An impressionistic sequence of experiences--a kind of Rorschach test--meant to evoke individual personal responses on various levels.

5. Confesión a Laura Confessing to Laura, Jaime Osorio Gómez et al., 1 videocassette (90 min.), Chicago, IL, 1994.
   Notes: Performer Note: Vicky Hernández, Gustavo Londono, Maria Cristina Gálvez.
   Abstract: Set during the civil war in Colombia which was precipitated by the assassination of liberal leader Jorge Elieser Gaitán, the film presents a drama in the lives of two people who, because of the riots, are trapped for a night in Laura's house, a night with transforms their existence.

6. El Huacán, Mady Samper and Gustavo Umaña V., 1 videocassette (19 min.), Bogotá, 1999.
   Notes: Performer Note: Ivan Alvarez, Juan Sebastian Aragon, Jaime Ceballos, Federico Umaña, Paula Umaña, Lina Uribe.
   Abstract: Two children enlist a street performer to help them search for a companion who was kidnapped.

7. El Páramo de Cumanday, Gabriela Samper, Ray Witlin, and Mady Samper, 1 videocassette (22 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
   Abstract: A legendary mule driver and a young apprentice are the central figures in this fantasy filmed in the mountains of the Páramo in Colombia, South America.

8. El poeta del agua Jorge Rojas, Jorge Rojas et al., 1 videocassette (25 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
   Notes: Performer Note: Actor, Simon Santander.
   Abstract: Poet Jorge Rojas talks about his life and poetry.

9. Entre el diablo y los tigres = Between the Devil and the Tigers, Patricia Leal et al., 1 videocassette (120 min.), San Francisco, CA, 1988.
   Notes: Performer Note: Patricia Leal, Louis Echegoyen, Mario Fernando, Manuel Obando.
   Abstract: Depicts the peasant struggle to live in peace and to work the land, caught between the oppression of the government and the desperate behavior of the guerillas. A peasant's testimony of the years of "La Violencia" in Colombia 1946-1965.

10. Esperanza, Mady Samper, 1 videorecording (25 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Notes: Performer Note: Martha Cardenas, David Jaramillo, Constanza Gutierrez.
    Abstract: A mentally ill homeless woman pretends that a doll is her baby.

11. Festival Folklorico de Fómeque, Gabriela Samper, Mady Samper, and Instituto Colombiano de Cultura, 1 videocassette (12 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: Film of a folk festival in Colombia, featuring indigenous music, dance, crafts, and other cultural activities.

12. Gabo premio Nobel de literatura, 1982, Tortuga Films, Compañía de Fomento Cinematográfico (Colombia), and Full Moon Entertainment, 1 videocassette (17 min.), Bogotá, Colombia, S.l., 1993.
    Abstract: This documentary offers a rare glimpse into the festivities held in Stockholm, Sweden to honor Gabriel García Márquez for winning the Nobel Prize for literature, and also features interviews with the newly-appointed Nobel laureate.

13. German Arciniegas y la historia dirección, guión, edición, Mady Samper ; una producción de la Biblioteca Nacional y la Unidad de Television, Subdirección de Comunicaciones, Colcultura, Germán Arciniegas et al., 1 videocassette (58 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: An interview with historian Germán Arciniegas.

14. Gregorio y el mar, Gregorio Fuentes et al., 1 videorecording (33 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: A man who sailed the Caribbean with Hemingway reminisces.

15. Guambianos, Wolf Tirado et al., 1 videocassette (59 min.), New York, NY, 1979?
    Abstract: A study of the daily life of Colombia's Guambiano Indians, a group facing extinction.

16. Guma the snake, Alejo Santa Maria, Cristina Echavarria, and ETNOS Television, 1 videocassette (26 min.), Colombia, S.A, 1987.
    Abstract: "Beginning with a beautiful myth of origin, this documentary then leads into an interesting everyday account, which takes place in a Kogui and Arsario Indian village in the remote mountain valleys of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (North Colombia).... It weaves technology, social organization and philosophy, with a rare recording on the symbolical and practical uses of coca leaves in this indigenous community." -- publisher's flyer.

17. Los niños abandonados The abandoned children, Danny Lyon et al., 1 videocassette (63 min.), Clintondale, NY, 1992?
    Notes: Performer Note: Joselín, Simón, Jurito.
    Abstract: A documentary about the street children of Bogota, Colombia in which the facts speak for themselves. Boys beg and girls turn to prostitution in order to survive under conditions which seem to be inescapable.

18. Los santisimos hermanos, Gabriela Samper and Mady Samper, 1 videocassette (8 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: Film of young Colombian penitents in sackcloth.

19. Marcos Olaya el hombre de la sal, Gabriela Samper and Mady Samper, 1 videocassette (12 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: Film of workers engaging in a laborious extraction of salt.

20. Memorias de teatro guión, Mady Samper ; dirección, Mady Samper, Mady Samper, 1 videocassette (28 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: Interviews with persons involved with the theatre program at the Instituto Colombiano de Cultura, and reminiscences of Gabriela Samper.

21. Mutación, Mady Samper and Jacques Legler, 1 videorecording (17 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Notes: Performer Note: Trabajo Colectivo, Grupo de Teatro, Colegio Helvetia, featuring Adriana Luque, Jimena Nieto, Ana Maria Cortes, Juliana Moron, Isabela Barrios, Eduardo Gaitan.
    Abstract: Children struggle to survive after a nuclear war.

22. Pioneros de la antropología 1936-1950, Mady Samper et al., 1 videorecording (79 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: Discussion of pioneering anthropologists among the Indians of Colombia.

23. Rodrigo D no futuro = Rodrigo D : no future, Víctor Gaviria et al., 1 videocassette (92 min.), New York, N.Y, 1991.
    Notes: Performer Note: Carlos Mario Restrepo, Ramiro Meneses, Jackson Idrian Gallego, Vilma Díaz, Oscar Hernández, et al.
    Abstract: A shockingly accurate and timely portrayal of the reckless existence of youths in one of the most exciting and dangerous cities in Latin America - Medellín, Colombia, in 1988. Backed with a frenetic punk rock soundtrack, the film centers around Rodrigo, a would-be drummer, and his friends who are trapped in the violence and drugs which define their turbulent lifestyle.

24. Rostros humanos tras Los Bosques de Niebla Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Alternativo PLANTE, Presidencia de la República presenta ; guión, edición, dirección, Mady Samper, Mady Samper, Colombia, and Presidencia de la República, 1 videocassette (75 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: Interviews with the people of the cloud forests of Colombia.

25. Semaforo en rojo, Julián Soler et al., 1 videocassette (98 min.), Harlingen, Tex, 1996.
    Notes: Performer Note: José Galvez, Enrique Ponton, Jaimé Velasquez.
    Abstract: A group of criminals prepare for a jewelry store robbery: Carlo pretends to be a client and familiarizes himself with the position of the safe, Marco and Pepe assemble a machine for transporting it, once stolen. Each prepares his personal life for the possibility of leaving the country, telling their girlfriends it will be necessary to live elsewhere, though their girlfriends don't learn the reason why. The thieves have an elaborate scheme to replace the safe with another, empty, one in broad daylight.

26. Tecnicas de duelo una cuestión de honor = Details of the duel : a question of honor, Humberto Dorado et al., 1 videocassette (97 min.), New York, NY, 1991.
    Notes: Performer Note: Frank Ramirez, Humberto Dorado, Florina Lemaitre.
    Abstract: "At the end of the fifties, the habitual calm of a nameless town in the heart of the Andes is shaken by the news of an up-coming duel between the local school-teacher and the butcher -- men who only yesterday were friends and political allies. Egged on by the clergy, the militia and the town's bureaucrats, a private affair becomes a gladiatorial spectacle" -- container.

27. Tierra y cultura, Magdalena V., Sigi S., and Cinema Guild, 1 videocassette (38 min.), New York, NY, 1988.
    Abstract: Examines the recuperación movement among the Indian communities in Colombia, which have struggled over the last fifteen years to regain their land and culture.

28. Una historia de muchos años, Camilo Calderón Schrader et al., 1 videocassette (12 min.), Bogota, Colombia, 1999.
    Abstract: A film on the history and production of beer, partly animated.

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