The Circuit

by Anna Marie De La Fuente
Border tensions with Ecuador and Venezuela, while now resolved, permeated the fiesta atmosphere at the Cartagena Intl Film & TV Festival but only just. Filmmakers from across Latin America including from said nations were more inclined to jostle for the empanada canapes than debate Colombia's skirmish on Ecuatorian territory.

"I may have to put on my uniform," said RCN Cine's Alejandro Arango, half-jokingly. Arango is in fact a reservist, but he would rather stay put at RCN where he has helped steer the web's much-lauded investment in local cinema.

Of more interest to local festgoers was the upcoming incursion of Mexican exhib Cinepolis into Colombian exhibition space. Giant exhib is opening a nine-screen multiplex in Bogota in May, a sorely-needed addtion to the country's sparse 513 screens.

Fest manager Lina Rodriguez, appointed in December, had her own battles to fight. At 27, she is likely the youngest among her peers in the intl fest circuit. Fest director Victor Nieto, who at 92 is the oldest fest director in the world, is more a figurehead. "We plan to enter him in the Guinness Book of World Records," says Rodriguez. Among the myriad challenges Rodriguez faced was an incoherent fest website that she immediately revamped.

This year's edition boasted new sidebars including a shorts in construction competish, showcases of digital cinema and women's cinema and free screenings in open spaces and beaches.  Next year, she wants to introduce cash prizes and put Cartagena firmly back on the FIAPF map. "We want to regain our status as a FIAPF-accredited fest," she says.

Inaugural pic, Colombian vet helmer Lisandro Duque's "Actores del conflicto" (Actors in conflict) was a timely and topical drama centering on a trio of mimes caught between Colombian authorities and the country's Marxist guerillas. 

Meanwhile, down at the Palacio de la Inquisicion, (Inquisition Palace) in the historic walled section of Cartagena, a decidly more peaceful shoot featuring a truly pan-Latin cast and crew has been underway. Based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Del amor y otros demonios," (Of love and other demons), pictured above, the eponymously-titled Costa Rican-Colombian co production boasts Costa Rican helmer/scribe (Hilda Hidalgo) and film score composer Fidel Gamboa, an Argentinean DP (Marcelo Camorino) and a pan-Latin cast hailing from Spain, Mexico, Cuba and Colombia.

"For three years, we held casting calls across Latin America for the key role of 12-year old Sierva Maria but she was right under her nose, growing into the role," says Colombian producer Clara Maria Ochoa about tyro thesp Eliza Triana Amaya, daughter of helmer Jorge Ali Triana and pic's casting director Sylvia Amaya.

Fest crowned Puerto Rican production "Maldeamores" (Lovesickness), with three major awards: best picture, supporting actress (Silvia Brito) and screenplay (written by co-helmer Carlos Ruiz and scribe Jorge Gonzales. Mexico's Rodrigo Pla took home the best director prize for "La Zona" and Andi Baez' ripped-from-headlines drama "Satanas" snagged the top Premio de Indio Catalina de Oro for best Colombian pic.