LAND OF LIGHT

TIERRA DE LUZ

By Andres BIERMANN

LULOFILMS - as PROD

Drama - Development 2013

After many of the inhabitants of her village are massacred by paramilitaries, Mayito, a courageous 12 year-old Colombian girl, takes over the running of her school so that her orphaned classmates can hold unto the only thing left to them: the hope of a better future.

    • Year of production
    • 2013
    • Genres
    • Drama
    • Countries
    • COLOMBIA
    • Languages
    • SPANISH
    • Budget
    • 1 - 3 M$
    • Duration
    • 90 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Andres BIERMANN
    • Writer(s)
    • Andres BIERMANN
    • Producer(s)
    • Ximena SOTOMAYOR (LULOFILMS), Antonio Jose PIÑEROS (PIÑEROS PROD)
    • Synopsis
    • Land of Light is the true story of young girl who survives a massacre and becomes her town’s only teacher. This is also the real story of a small village that refuses to die.
      On February 2000 the inhabitants of “El Salado”, a faraway town in the Mountains of María, Colombia, were victims of a paramilitary genocide coordinated by a local politician that accused the population to be accomplices of a cattle theft. 38 people were killed, including women and children. The population was forced to abandon the town, leaving behind all its belongings.
      Mayito is 12 years old, and she and her mother are among the survivors. They return to “El Salado” two years after the killing. Everyone faces loneliness, fear and the constant remembrance of the horror days. The village is almost empty: trees grow in the most unusual places, like the front door of a house, inside the church or in the middle of the streets.
      After a few days of isolation, Mayito escapes the protection of her mother and wanders around town. She secretly enters the off limit ruins off her old school, where she returns every day to remember the old days, and in her fantasies she becomes the teacher. One day she discovers a little boy who secretly observes her playing: he is her first student.
      Other children begin to join her classes, and enjoy her stories and readings. Mayito ends up running the school, filling in for the absent teachers in the phantasmal village. Every child has a story of duel and pain from the memories of the tragic day. Mayito helps everybody and is their support. But one day, when she is about to accomplish the difficult task of helping a boy to speak again, he is sent away to an orphanage. Mayito is overcome by her own duels, frustration and depression, abandoning her mission.
      All the students, that now count 37 children between 4 and 14, embark on a plan to rescue her from depression. They organize a very special welcome back for her in the school that they now call “Mayito’s school”
      Mayito manages to keep all the children motivated to learn for more than 6 months, until safety conditions improve allowing government teachers to return to the “El Salado”.
      Mayito is a bright and brave little girl, with an immense charisma and passion for what she does best: Teach.
    • Partners & financing
    • RCN
    • Beginning of shooting
    • Nov 01, 2013