Colombian Culture, Colombia Adoption and Raising Colombian Kids

Competing this week for the best Iberoamerican film at the Cartagena film festival is the movie "Los Colores de la Montaña". The movie is directed by the Paisa, Carlos César Arbeláez. It is his first movie. It has already won an award at the international film festival in San Sebastian. Read more here: http://www.sansebastianfestival.com/in/noticia.php?ap=1&id=1453 The story is about the friendship of 3 boys who live in rural Colombia and are surrounded by guerrillas. They love futbol (soccer), and one in particular, Manuel (age 9), dreams of playing as a professional goal keeper some day. Unfortunately, they lose their soccer ball in a field with landmines. You can see the trailer below. And, here is to hoping that it will eventually appear on Netflix :).

Colombian Diego Jiménez, director of photography, for the movie 'Todos tus muertos', was the winner for Best Cinematography in the Sundance Festival World Cinema Dramatic Composition Competition. This is great news for Colombian cinema. Below, you can see the trailer for the movie which is about a farmer that finds a mound of bodies in his field -- kind of grim I know. The film is currently competing in Rotterdam for the Tiger Awards. You can read more about the movie in a review by the Hollywood Reporter here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/sundance-review-dead-todos-tus-76269

Our family loves to see movies. Thanksgiving found us seeing Tangled and for Christmas Daddy took our older son to see TRON. This year while Tron and Gulliver's Travels were battling it out for the top box office seller here in the US, in Colombia, both were eclipsed by ticket sales for a new Colombian film: El Paseo by Dago García I, of course, have not seen the film -- wish I could have been in Colombia over Christmas, but I wasn't. Here is the trailer -- and BTW -- there are no movie ratings in Colombia so it is hard to know the content before you see the film unless it is obvious in the trailer.

I want to thank a Raising Colombian Kids reader, and fellow adoptive mom for today's blog post idea. A few weeks ago Catherine suggested that I check out a film, Not A Sevensson Anymore . The film was produced in Swedish and Spanish with English subtitles. It is the story of Emilio Sevensson and his father Bengt and their search for Emilio's birth father in Colombia. Before we ever knew who our child would be, I read tons of books about adoption and the lifelong process of family building. I joined a Yahoo Group for Colombian Adoptees Searching for their roots. I was interested in finding out what older adoptees felt about their adoption. What questions plagued them? What did they wish they knew about their birth? I wanted to be better prepared to deal with feelings and issues my own child would have. I think the research I did spurred on my interest in getting my sons birth information -- which if you missed the post about my quest, you can find it here: http://raisingco...

Last week, Bogotá hosted its 27th annual film festival. It is held around the 1 week of October every year. The competition's main prize is the Círculo Precolombino de Oro . This year, it was awarded to the Colombian film: Retratos en un mar de mentiras (Pictures in a Sea of Lies) by Carlos Gaviria. Having seen the trailer, it looks like a heavy movie with plenty of violence. It is probably not family friendly. However, there are other prizes including prizes for films in 3 different documentary categories: Social issues, Environmental Issues and Art. There is also an award, called the Premio Alexis , for the best Colombian Short film and the best production by someone under 18 years of age. In other Colombian film news, the movie "Vuelco del Cangrejo" was selected as the Colombian entry in the Oscar competition. Here is the trailer once again:

In 1998, Colombian director, Sergio Cabrera, released this humorous movie -- Golpe de Estadio (Stadium Coup). The plot: A US petroleum company has established a base in a small village in Colombia from which they can conduct geologic investigations. This small base, nicknamed New Texas, becomes a target for the Colombian guerrilla. Unfortunately, the only television in the area is also located in the village with the Colombian soldiers, and the guerrilleros don't want to destroy it because it is the only place where they can see Colombia's team play against Argentina. What to do? I really don't want to destroy the ending. Again, I have not seen it, but I suspect at the very least -- some shooting. And perhaps some dicey scenes and language. However, it is supposed to be a comedy. You can see the entire movie on Youtube -- start here.

Originally released in July 2008, and directed by María Camila Lizarazo, the movie Angel del Acordeón promoted itself as a movie for the "whole family". It looks really sweet. Here is the synopsis: On the Atlantic Coast of Colombia lives an 11 year old boy, Poncho Daza dreams of becoming a great vallenatero and winning the heart of the beautiful Sara María. Unfortuately, his family's economic problems keep him from achieving his dream -- at least at first. Eventually, he is able to become known as the legendary Angel of the Acordeón. The official website for the movie: http://www.cmoproducciones.com/angel/

EL VUELCO DEL CANGREJO is a movie about race relations on the Pacific coast of Colombia. On a broader scale, it is a metaphor for the civil strife in Colombia. The movie was released in March 2010 in Colombia and won the International Federation of Film Critics Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009. The action occurs in La Barra, a remote village on the Pacific coast of Colombia. There a leader of the Afrocolombian community, called el Cerebro (the Brain), faces problems white man from Colombia's interior (el Paisa) moves in and starts changing things. He plans to build a hotel on the beach. There is conflict, an unusual stranger, and children in the movie. Here is the official trailer. I haven't figured out where I can see it yet -- might have to wait until I go to Colombia this summer. Or wait a few years and see if it shows up at our library -- maybe on DVD in a few months. Don't know, but it sounds good. I am going to keep it in mind. http://www.elvuelcodelcangre...

As the summer movie season approaches, and I plan to spend time watching movies in English. I began to wonder what Colombia has to offer me by way of movies. I'll start by saying that the movies I am highlighting this week are all movies I have not seen yet, but that look interesting. Colombia has not movie ratings, so I cannot address whether or not they are appropriate for you or your children. There are no content warnings. I can only read reviews and watch trailers. But, I admit that there are some that look interesting. Like take today's choice. The movie is entitled: Los Viajes del Viento The Wind Journeys It was written and directed by Ciro Guerra. It was Colombia's official selection for the 2010 Academy Awards in the Foreign Language Category. The reviews say the plot is not the best, but that the cinematography, music, and introduction to Colombian culture make it a must see. You can find out where it is playing and when it will be released on DVD by following ...