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