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Isolated

International Programme
2015
Documentary Film
Colombia
Ecuador
Mexico
2015
73 minutes
Spanish
subtitles: 
English
Credits DOK Leipzig Logo
Producer
Marcela Lizcano, Juan Pablo Solano, Simon Beltrán Echeverri, Sarahi Echeverría
Director
Marcela Lizcano
Music
Daniel Velasco
Cinematographer
Marcela Lizcano, Cecilia Madorno
Editor
Carla Valencia, Étienne Boussac
Script
Marcela Lizcano
Sound
Daniel "el gato" Najar Garcés
The tiny island of Santa Cruz is part of the San Bernardo archipelago off the Colombian Caribbean coast, situated within sight of its big sister Múcura. It’s not really an island, more of a coral reef that fishermen used for storage in the past. Then they brought their families here from the mosquito plagued islands, built huts, and today Santa Cruz is a city: 1,200 square metres, 97 houses, 500 inhabitants. Crowded with people and goods this unlikely place serves as a metaphor for our planet for the Colombian director Marcela Lizcano. El Cabo, an old fisherman and lobster diver, acts as a guide who knows how to describe the changes: fish is running low, the lobsters are disappearing and the sea has already swallowed six of the original 16 islands around Santa Cruz. His reflections lead to a residents’ meeting which demonstrates on a small scale how obstinacy, corruption and greed destroy our world. And then there are the children who roam everywhere and for whom the sea is a playground. Their future is not in Santa Cruz. They are drawn to the mainland, where the fun is. They will miss the sea when they wake up there in the mornings. With “Isolated” the director has created the very affectionate portrait of a community whose crisis mirrors all our problems. The only thing is – where can we go?

Matthias Heeder

The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.

Animadoc
2014
Vicenta Carla Valencia

Vicenta was a woman from the countryside, born in Bolivia, who migrated with her grandmother to Chile searching for a better life. There she faced poverty, revolution, dictatorship and the loss of her son.

2013

Vicenta

Animadoc
2014
Animadoc
Ecuador
2013
5 minutes
Spanish
subtitles: 
English
Credits DOK Leipzig Logo
Producer
María-José Elizalde
Director
Carla Valencia
Music
Alfredo Mora
Editor
Carla Valencia
Animation
Carlos Julio Sánchez
Script
Carla Valencia
Sound
Franz Córdova
Vicenta was a woman from the countryside, born in Bolivia, who migrated with her grandmother to Chile searching for a better life. There she faced poverty, revolution, dictatorship and the loss of her son.

The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.

Focus Latin America
2012
With my Heart in Yambo Fernanda Restrepo

In 1988 the director’s brothers were killed by the Ecuadorian police. Her search for the truth and a look at a survivors’ family who are fighting against forgetting.

2011

With my Heart in Yambo

Focus Latin America
2012
Documentary Film
Ecuador
2011
136 minutes
Spanish
subtitles: 
English
Credits DOK Leipzig Logo
Producer
Fernanda Restrepo
Director
Fernanda Restrepo
Music
Iván Mora Manzano
Cinematographer
Francois Laso, Cristina Salazar
Editor
Iván Mora Manzano, Carla Valencia
Animation
Jorge de los Santos, La que Cruza
Script
María Fernanda Restrepo
Sound
Esteban Brauer
In January 1988, the director’s two older brothers disappeared after a police check. Maria Fernanda Restrepo was ten years old. Her brothers were probably killed and thrown into Lake Yambo by the police. For more than twenty years, her father has gone to the city of Quito every week to protest against forgetting this case. Solving this crime, which is part of a long tradition of human rights violations in the history of Ecuador, has become the family’s sole purpose in life.
Maria Fernanda, the daughter, also sets out to find the perpetrators. Armed with a camera and microphone she defies policemen, secret service agents and once even a former president to confront them with the truth. Even though she hits a wall of silence or is mislead by false information and fake clues again and again, she gradually comes closer to the truth. Intelligent questions, bitter comments and angry humour are the tools the director uses to expose cowardice and lies, while her off-screen voice sets important accents in a traditional narrative.
The film makes us feel how every member of the family bears their disappointments, hopes and frustrations deep inside and how hard it is for them to share these feelings. And yet they stand together and draw incredible strength from their fight against forgetting. Their courage gives “Con mi corazón en Yambo” its powerful intensity.

– Paulo de Carvalho

The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.