Ver Cine Colombiano: Noticias | Proimágenes Colombia

August 16 marked the Colombian premiere of the Colombian-Spanish co-production Crimen con vista al mar, a film directed by Gerardo Herrero, producer of the Oscar-winning film, El secreto de sus ojos. And the number of Colombian documentaries released commercially in the country grew with the premiere of La eterna noche de las doce lunas, a documentary that gives Colombian audiences a chance to witness a cultural rite encapsulating the customs and beliefs of a community struggling daily to defend its identity.
 
The Wayuu girl Fila Rosa Uriana remained locked up for twelve moons, an entire year, after her first menstrual period began. During this extended isolation, young Fili underwent the rituals practiced by the indigenous people in her community. The goal of this ancient ancestral rite is to learn, while completely alone, to be a woman. Director Priscila Padilla says, "Fili is a Wayuu girl going through puberty, and as part of the Karequishimana settlement in the municipality of Maicao, La Guajira, she must undergo 'el encierro', or enclosure, an ancient ritual practiced by all women in the community transitioning to adulthood."
 
The documentary was born of the director's need to portray, from the perspective of a young indigenous girl, the process of reflection through which a girl becomes a woman and begins to think of herself as such. "I wanted to tell of this process through the eyes of a child and show the world this cultural practice, which many people don't believe in, as a time of reflection in which a woman begins to know her body and think of herself as a woman," added the director.
 
La eterna noche de las doce lunas won Best Latin American Documentary at the 2013 Toulouse International Film Festival in France and an India Catalina Award at the 2013 Cartagena International Film Festival (FICCI). The documentary was selected for numerous international competitions including the Official Selection of 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, the São Paulo Festival of Latin American Cinema in Brazil, the 2013 New York Latinbeat Festival, the Official Selection of the 2013 Lima International Film Festival in Peru and the Official Selection of the 2013 Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.
 
Crimen con vista al mar is the feature debut of Colombian actor Jorge Enrique Abello, known internationally for his role in the soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea . The film was produced by RCN Cine & Ennovva Films (Colombia) and Tornasol Films and Foresta Films (Spain).
 
Crimen con vista al mar tells the story of Roman Pedraza, an ex-con who travels to a hotel on the Caribbean coast in order to settle a debt with Enrique, his old accomplice and the hotel's owner, who is reluctant to pay back all the money. Roman pressures him by deciding to stay there indefinitely, without thinking of the dire consequences this will entail. One of the hotel staff takes his money and some of his belongings. Roman attributes the theft to the Spanish tourists with whom he spent the night and in his attempt to recover the money one of them is murdered. Suspicious Spanish detective Jose Cabrales, hired by the parents of the murdered tourist, uncovers yet another series of cover-ups by other hotel guests and unleashes a string of murders and new events that ultimately mislead the investigation and turn the peaceful environment into a nightmare.
 
The films stars Spanish actors Carmelo Gómez (El método, Silencio en la nieve), Silma López and Úrsula Corberó and Colombians Luis Fernando Hoyos (Tiempo final), Ana Bolena Meza (El Zorro, la espada y la rosa), Carlos Camacho (La Pola), Carlos Torres (Niñas Mal), Katherine Vélez (El Capo), Juan David Restrepo (Rosario Tijeras) and Juan Pablo Barragán (El páramo).
 
Crimen con vista al mar was shot entirely on the beaches of Bocacanoa, half an hour from Cartagena along the highway to Barranquilla, in a hotel set up especially for this production. The crew included director of photography Alfredo Mayo, winner of three Goyas, and Cristina 'Map' Pastor, winner of the 2010 Goya for Best Editing for her work on Celda 211 (2009). Other crew members included production designer Diana Saade (Asalto al cine, Cinco días sin Nora), executive producers Carolina Angarita and Juan Manuel Buelvas, and producers Julian Giraldo and Carlos Rodriguez.