Patricia Restrepo

An intimate portrait of the pioneering artistic collective Grupo de Cali, whose work is now considered a fundamental part of Colombia’s film history.

Following recent endeavours that have unearthed women’s cinema and reclaimed its contribution to film history, this video essay revisits the filmography of the Colombian feminist film collective Cine Mujer (1978–1999). Narrated by three of its members—Eulalia Carrizosa, Patricia Restrepo, and Clara Riascos—through semi-structured interviews that intersect the personal, professional and political, this short film also reuses Cine Mujer’s archive. Its purpose is, one the one hand, to contribute to restoring its legacy and, on the other hand, to reframe and resignify its images within women’s ongoing battle for equality.

Flipping through an album of old family photographs, a mother reminds her daughter of the beautiful kites she made when she was little. Although the parents do not agree and argue in front of their children, the father makes a beautiful colorful kite while the mother prepares lunch. Everyone collaborates with the paste, the cutting of the paper and the framework of the skeleton. Rosita runs happily in the field and unrolls the kite that she herself saw being born step by step.

An outcast looks for a glass of water in the house of a single woman, he notices that she is industrious yet repulsive and resolves¸ under the guise of love¸ to exploit her as a servant. After some drunkenness and beatings¸ the woman decides to take revenge; taking advantage of one of these drunkenness¸ when he has fallen asleep in a hammock¸ he sews the hammock around the edges and throws a pot of boiling water on it.

An outcast looks for a glass of water in the house of a single woman, he notices that she is industrious yet repulsive and resolves¸ under the guise of love¸ to exploit her as a servant. After some drunkenness and beatings¸ the woman decides to take revenge; taking advantage of one of these drunkenness¸ when he has fallen asleep in a hammock¸ he sews the hammock around the edges and throws a pot of boiling water on it.

The documentary Sin Telón celebrates the national artistic values of Teatro La Candelaria, recognized both nationally and internationally as one of the leading Latin American experimental theater groups. The film highlights the extensive career of Santiago García while also portraying the everyday life and unique working methods of this dedicated ensemble of artists from Teatro La Candelaria.

In this short film, the title of which translates as "Black Knee", a team of football players (played by members of the Barrios Unidos Cali team) encounter a pair of skinnydipping hippies out in the fields and steal their transistor radio. This seems to trigger something in their most legendary player, Jonny Mosquera: a terrible syndrome that makes him literally fall to his knees. Like La hamaca, Agarrando pueblo, Carne de tu Carne and other films made by Mayolo, this film blends deeply unsettling imagery and lowkey genre filmmaking into an equally unsettling and exhilarating realism.