My mother died a few days after the start of the peace talks with the FARC guerrilla. Before dying, she told me she had forgiven and that she did not want anyone else to live through her experience. She had been held hostage for almost two years in a corner of the jungle. My brother and I had never spoken about it before. We had even forgotten the diary she was allowed to write and carried with her, in which she recorded the worst 603 days of her life. Reading the diary pushes us over a precipice. We located places, deciphered names and set out on a journey through jungles and mountains following the trail of her pain, but also searching for the guerrillas who guarded her and who fill much of that diary — where we discover they developed a close bond with her, almost a kind of mother and son. Perhaps those guerrillas are now demobilised, so we set out to find them. To follow our mother’s trail is to follow the path of forgiveness. We wonder whether, at the end of this journey, we too will be able to forgive.
A production by GusanoFilms and RTVC Play. In co-production with Salon Indien Films. With the support of Proimágenes Colombia, IDFA Bertha Fund and Tribeca Film Institute.
Awards
- Audience Award and Special Jury Mention – 24th Málaga Film Festival
- Newcomers Award “Golden Alexander – Dimitri Eipides” and “Human Values Award of the Hellenic Parliament” – Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
- Radiónica Youth Award for Best Colombian Film and Audience Award – BIFF, Bogotá International Film Festival
- Grand Jury Prize – DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival
- Best Film Award – Suacha Film Festival
- Audience Award and Best Documentary Award – Cinélatino, 34th Rencontres de Toulouse
- Audience Award – Lichter International Film Festival
- Night Award for Documentary – Festival International Signes de Nuit, Bangkok
- Special Mention for Documentary – The Colombian Film Festival New York
- Candidate for the 36th GOYA AWARDS
- Nominated for the 9th Feroz Awards
- Jury Award – Perugia Social Film Fest
- Grand Prix FIFAC / France Télévisions – Amazon-Caribbean International Documentary Film Festival – FIFAC
- Best Documentary Award – Festival Cinehorizontes
Festivals
- Hot Docs – World premiere
- 24th Málaga Film Festival – Spanish premiere – Audience Award and Special Jury Mention
- Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival – European premiere – Newcomers Award “Golden Alexander – Dimitri Eipides” and “Human Values Award of the Hellenic Parliament”
- DocMontevideo – Latin American premiere
- BIFF, Bogotá International Film Festival – Colombian premiere – Radiónica Youth Award for Best Colombian Film and Audience Award
- DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival – US premiere – Grand Jury Prize
- L’Alternativa, Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona
- 43rd Mostra de Cinema de São Paulo, São Paulo International Film Festival
- Singapore International Film Festival 2021 – Asian premiere
- Suacha Film Festival
- Montes de María Audiovisual Festival
- 3rd Marinilla Film Festival
- 8th International Human Rights Film Festival Colombia
- #NarrarElFuturo – Creative Commons & New Media Film Festival Bogotá
- IDFA – Best of Fests section
- Cuéntalo, Logroño Narrative Festival
- Ojo al Sancocho, Ciudad Bolívar Film Festival
- Cinélatino, 34th Rencontres de Toulouse
- Lichter International Film Festival
- The Colombian Film Festival New York
- Festival International Signes de Nuit de Bangkok
- Monterrey International Film Festival
- Perugia Social Film Fest
- Macondo Awards of the Colombian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – 2 nominations: Best Documentary Feature and Best Director
- Amazon-Caribbean International Documentary Film Festival – FIFAC
- Festival Cinehorizontes: Compétition Documentaire
Funds
- Winner, FDC Proimágenes production grant 2018
- IDFA Bertha Fund classic IBF 2018
- IDFAcademy 2018
- L’alternativa Professionals “mentoring project” 2017
- Winner, FDC Proimágenes development grant 2017