Hostage in the Jungle

When Multinationals Attack Nation States

December 2016 •French

In autumn 2016, demonstrations sprang up all over Europe against the CETA free-trade agreement between the European Union and Canada. The reason? An obscure clause which allows multinationals to sue nation states if they feel their profits may be damaged by government decisions. An investigation into the hidden world of international arbitration.

Snake Man

January 2014 •French

It is with an old bus an about thirty snakes that Franz Florez struggles for the preservation of nature in Colombia, one of the most environmentally diverse country in the world. His snakes are his pass to enter the deep jungle, where guerrillas fight the regular army and where narco-traffickers meet coca growers. Facing the threat of the industrial exploitation of these preserved areas, he tries to gather support among the population, including the armed actors.

Quijote

October 2012 •Spanish

As a child, Jairo William Gutiérrez traded a few onions for a ticket to the circus and from then on he only wanted to be an actor and playwright. Today Jairo is 50 years old and farms the land, milks his cow and writes theater. His passion for the stage is so great that he set up a theater company, which is made up of his wife, two daughters and a few neighbors.

La Negociación

November 2018 •Spanish

Beatriz González, why are you crying?

April 2011 •Spanish

What happened to painter Beatriz González, who made us laugh with the irony of her works, to get to the point of making a self-portrait that shows her crying naked? The path of the artist is intimately linked with the history of Colombia during the past fifty years.

Carlitos Medellin

October 2004 •Spanish

This documentary reveals the most violent part of the most violent city (Medellin) of the most violent country (Colombia) in the world. For around 75 minutes, different people from Medellin explain how difficult it is to live and survive in a city where violence, weapons, killing is common. Everyday, someone you know may die or get wounded by one of the different armed factions that struggle throughout the country and in the cities to take control over the population, drug cartel, politics, etc... sometimes for no reasons at all but fun.

Plains: Testimony of an Ethnocide

June 1971 •English

A documentary on the massacre of Planas in the Colombian east plains in 1970. An Indigenous community formed a cooperative to defend their rights from settlers and colonists, but the government organized a military operation to protect the latter and foreign companies.

One Day in September

October 1999 •English

The full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God.' The 1972 Munich Olympics were interrupted by Palestinian terrorists taking Israeli athletes hostage. Besides footage taken at the time, we see interviews with the surviving terrorist, Jamal Al Gashey, and various officials detailing exactly how the police, lacking an anti-terrorist squad and turning down help from the Israelis, botched the operation.

Gamin

July 1977 •Spanish

After an extensive immersion work on abandoned childhood, Ciro Durán presents, from his point of view, the life of street children, who have broken all family ties and have regrouped to survive in the concrete jungle.

Walkers of time

March 2017 •Spanish

María is an Amorúa girl; an indigenous group that traveled the savannas of Orinoquía as nomads. She lives with her grandmother Matilde, her sister diana and her cousins in Puerto Carreño, in the Colombia-Venezuela border. The amorúa are considered wild and are not literate. Matilde wants her granddaughters to learn to write and read to live better in this town of "rational whites" as they call us. The director follows María's life for 8 years from her childhood to her adolescence and invites her to travel the places her grandma did as a nomad.

The Birders

February 2019 •Spanish

The film highlights legendary Colombian birdwatching guide Diego Calderon-Franco and National Geographic photographer/videographer Keith Ladzinski as they travel through Columbia, a nation that boasts one of the most diverse populations of birds in the world, to capture footage of rare and unique birds, some of which have never been filmed before.

Colombia with Simon Reeve

April 2017 •English

Simon Reeve visits Colombia in the year of the pacification, at least on paper, between the government, 'aided' by right-wing death squads, and the Marxist FARC guerrilla, which was turning into an armed super-drug cartel and champion of ransom kidnappings. He speaks with people about the horror that hopefully nears its end and the prospects if both sides disarm.

Colombia in My Arms

November 2022 •Finnish

After 52 years of armed conflict the FARC guerrillas are about to hand over their arms in exchange for political participation and social inclusion of the poor. Ernesto is one of them. The much celebrated Colombian peace agreement throws Ernesto and the polarised society around him into chaos in which everyone is afraid of the future and their own survival.

Jaguar: Voice of a Territory

February 2021 •Spanish

Jaguar voice of a territory is a Colombian production that took a decade to complete. It talks about love, affection, respect, humility, temperance and courage. It talks about balance with oneself and the other. It is the voice of a territory and a tradition where the jaguar dwells and seeks to be heard. It is a tour through the mountains, jungles and plains where the jaguar has directly engaged with humans, creating a millenary journey of chants, myths and cultural traditions which narrate the history of the man-jaguar relationship, and speak to the importance of preserving this species which finds itself severely threatened.

Insurgencia por la paz

February 2014 •Spanish

Documentary about the dialogues of the Mesa de Paz de La Habana between the Colombian insurgent forces - FARC-EP - and the Colombian government, during the year 2014.

The Accordian Kings

August 2010 •English

Once every decade in a small Colombian village, musicians engage in a fierce battle for the title of the Accordion King. Travel down to Colombia, and go behind the scenes of the Vallenato Kings Festival where, each April, the world's greatest accordionists assemble to perform, compete, and celebrate the squeezebox. Meet the players and hear their stories, including professors of the Turco Gil Academy, where over two thousand children dedicate themselves to their instrument, and Yeime, a young girl who overcame cultural stereotypes to become the first woman to win the competition in over forty years.

Voices of Kidnapping

October 2018 •English

Ghostly images of Colombia’s jungle landscapes are set to radio transmissions sent by family members to their kidnapped loved ones—heartrending messages of grief, support, and, against all odds, hope.

Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis

June 2022 •German

In August 1988, two armed bank robbers keep German police at bay for 54 hours during a hostage-taking drama that ends in a shootout and three deaths.

Lo Mejor de Jaime Garzón

November 2006 •Spanish

Suspension

November 2019 •Spanish

In the depths of the Colombian jungle, the skeleton of an immense abandoned cement bridge is tucked away. It has turned into a delusional tourist attraction.