CHANTS THAT FLOOD THE RIVER

CANTOS QUE INUNDAN EL RÍO

By German ARANGO

BOGOTÁ AUDIOVISUAL MARKET - as PROMO

Documentary - Post-Production 2019

Her body is memory, her songs are rivers, her voice is a fight against oblivion.

    • Year of production
    • 2019
    • Genres
    • Documentary, First film, Social issues
    • Countries
    • COLOMBIA
    • Languages
    • SPANISH
    • Budget
    • 0 - 0.3 M$
    • Duration
    • 80 mn
    • Director(s)
    • German ARANGO
    • Producer(s)
    • Ana María MUÑOZ (PASOLINI EN MEDELLÍN)
    • Synopsis
    • In the depths of the Colombian Pacific jungle lives Oneida, a woman who has inherited the musical tradition of the alabaos: ancient songs sung by afro descendent women to accompany the spirits of the dead into the world of the animas. The river has marked Oneida’s life; it is where she lost her left leg after a snake bite, as well as the point of entry into a territory where paramilitaries and guerrillas committed one of the most terrible massacres of the war in Colombia.

      More than 100 people, including women, children and the elderly, lost their lives while sheltering in a church from an unannounced attack. After that day, the concept of death changed; the old alabaos were transformed into a cry for peace and Oneida began to compose them as such. Thousands of people saw her sing during the event where the peace treaty between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla group was signed. Yet it seems that this war will never end, and Oneida’s desire to compose songs of joy remains unfulfilled.