DIÒBA a film by Adriana Rojas - Presskit

DIoBA

a flm by Adriana Rojas Espitia

DIÒBA

Fiction/ 91 min / Colombia

Screenwriter, producer and director

ADRIANA ROJAS ESPITIA

SYNOPSIS

Elba is an indigenous woman who has lost her roots. She is 63 years old, she lives alone in a humble peasant house, located inside a forest.

She spends her days between her house and the forest. She ful lls her needs partially with what she nds along the paths she takes every day through the woods, that is where she gets seeds and plants.

Elba is a hermit, consumed by her own life. She lives obsessed with a picture hanging in her room; a photo of an indigenous girl on the day of her First Communion. The day arrives when Elba must battle her own delusions, revive them and expel them. This may or may not help her rediscover herself, her essence, her roots.

CREATIVE NOTES by

Adriana Rojas Espitia

| Amrec

How did Diòba come about?

For many months images of an indigenous woman running through a forest came to my mind; those images came to me insistently, and I knew I had to write something. A long time passed and they were still present, until I decided to materialize what I saw in my imagination; I had a hunch that I could do something interesting with those visions that had come from deep inside.

I wrote a text: a short, disjointed, very open-ended story, in which the need to deal with the uprooting of an indigenous woman who is outside her community became manifest.

After writing that short story, I sought out Mileidy Orozco Domicó, an indigenous Êbera Eyabida audiovisual producer, whom I had met in Medellín; she now lived in Mocoa, and all our dialogue was done by e-mail; I told her that I had written a text - a script for a ction lm. I sent

her the text and asked her if it could be misinterpreted or be o ensive to the Êbera people, because when I wrote the story, I had not thought of making a documentary, nor an ethnographic or anthropological work, and therefore, it was not my idea to make a representation of a documentary, nor an ethnographic or anthropological work. It was not my idea to make a representation of a lm; It was not my idea to make a representation of the Êbera Eyabida indigenous culture. But the images and the story of the solitary, reclusive indigenous woman, who lived in a humble dwelling in a forest, came to me spontaneously, and I felt the need to bring these images to reality.

I also thought that the lm’s title should be in the Êbera Eyabida language, just as I was looking for indigenous songs to incorporate into that minimalistic story. Mileidy helped me to understand that this story could leave some traces of the Êbera Eyabida culture, because it had been conceived as a way to capture the uprooting of this indigenous woman who had presented herself to me internally, and she gave me the assurance that what had come to me unexpectedly, was in her words

"a valuable intention". Finally, Mileidy was incorporated into the lm; she translated the title into Êbera Eyabida and composed and interpreted the indigenous song that has great importance in Diòba. Although it was clearly not going to be a documentary or ethnographic lm, I felt the need to research the Êbera culture, and so after writing the script for Diòba, I set myself the task of reading, and educating myself, of looking for sources that would help me understand this culture of which I did not have much knowledge, but that I had to know about, if I wanted to make the lm - not so much

because what I found was going to change the images that were already described, but because it was my duty to do this research in order to better understand who I was alluding to, albeit not explicitly; So, I spent a long time reading graduate theses by students of the Mother Earth Degree at the University of Antioquia, I consulted texts and books, from which I could learn about their customs, their knowledge, their languages, as well as the di erent problems that repeatedly arise in indigenous communities, particularly the loss of identity which generates a crisis in these communities, as colonialism has been so invasive that even the original languages, memory, and ancestral knowledge, have been progressively lost.

This academic research, plus the fact that I was able to approach the life stories of several Êbera women during the pre-production process, helped me to understand even more a culture that has not only been colonized, but displaced, expropriated of its territories, of its expressions, and continues as an example of resistance. All this motivated me even more to make Diòba, always keeping in mind that this story could only be understood from the point of view of an outsider, of a woman who had arrived by chance to create a story that is not a representation of the Êbera, but a dream.

Diòba, as I have mentioned, is a creation that emerges untethered from the social sciences. It is a work that I hope can be seen more as a dreamlike tale, and not given a place that is not its own or read as what it was never intended to be.

Two temporal contexts

Diòba is a minimalist extended narrative which delves into the daily life of a character undergoing an internal con

The narrative is presented from two di objective and the other subjective), where the dreamlike is paramount, as it leads us to discover the inner world of its protagonist: Elba.

The ending is conceived with the same intention as the whole story of Diòba; the way in which the main character seeks to free herself from her con ict; how she will try to expel her memories, in a cathartic, liberating delirium; this ending gives the viewer total freedom to complete the story.

A long time after writing Diòba, I came to realize that these lms in uenced this work; there are some symbolic elements in both Chircales and El Atalante that I take up, incorporate and reinvent in this minimalist

process of adapting the space began, through an exhaustive work by the Art Department, in order to transform and give form and identity to Diòba’s house.

The rst phase of shooting took place in a forest in the village of Piedras Blancas, in the town of Santa Elena, where all the sequences that take place inside the house were lmed, as well as Elba's walks through the extensive forest.

The shooting had to be done in two stages due to limited economic resources and we had to stop for seven months, after which a second stage of production was undertaken in the municipality of San Rafael, choosing the Cascada del Amor and the Melcocho River as locations.

Once the shooting was nished, we entered the editing phase; we intended to nish Diòba through from Films in Progress and Work in Progress selection processes. When we had completed a 92-minute cut of the lm, we began to submit it to a number of lm festivals which featured these kinds of initiatives to enable independent lmmakers to complete their projects; at this stage, we began to understand that it was going to be very di cult to nish Diòba under this modality. Not all festivals feature these types of programs, and those that do are very sought after, both by large and small production companies. In the lm industry, it has become important to premiere movies that have been awarded previous awards, which obviously helps in their

promotion, and also saves costs for large production companies, meaning that small productions are already competing at a disadvantage. It is not easy, then, to win Films in Progress contests; however, we continued our path, and Diòba was actually selected for the Films in Progress award at the 15th Gibara International Film Festival in Cuba (2019). We also competed in the FICVIÑA Construye of the Viña del Mar International Film Festival (2019); in 2020, the lm was selected for the Work in Progress of Contemporary Colombian Cinema at the III San ci. We learned a lot through these contests, because we found out about what was being done in other countries, and we were able to share or work with our professional peers.

Looking back now, while still in the post-production phase, we nd that we have come a long way; we are very close to the

story; it could be said that the reworking of these elements was an "unconscious" homage to these two lms, as it can also be understood as both an incantation and a beautiful coincidence. There are many more in uences on Diòba; the texts, lms and experiences that helped me to conceive this lm would be too extensive to list.

This text in which I brie y describe how Diòba arose, apart from giving an account of these two in uences, can bring us closer to the subtle sources of this deeply felt creative process, which I have been working on since 2017.

therefore, from the beginning, I decided to work under collaborative and self-managed production methods.

In this process, rst Olowaili Green and Juan Esteban Díaz from SentARTE, an indigenous audiovisual content production company, joined the project as co-producers. Then, at di erent times, the people who eventually became part of both the artistic and technical teams joined the process, most of whom also have a percentage in the lm’s investment; nally, in the post-production phase, lmmaker Jorge Forero joined as co-producer.

Brief notes on a collaborative production

This work has been produced in phases; the pre-production process would be enough for an extended article in which I would, for example, describe the atypicality of the eld work, the casting of the protagonist, and the encounters with each of the people who are part of Diòba, but that story deserves another moment.

Diòba is not an Aristotelian story; it is a minimalist feature lm and it is part of a cinema that is stripped of industrial machinery; these characteristics limited our nancing options for its production; It was not a story that was going to be produced by a television network, nor was it very attractive to lm funds where priority is given to "the story"; it is not a lm industry product, so it of no interest to big lm executives;

Each of the people who became part of Diòba did a great job; this lm was like a beautiful cloth which many people helped to weave.

Steps taken

The lm had an extensive pre-production period, a stage in which a lot of time was invested in nding locations, as well as the arduous process of nding the leading actress and the girl who plays the supporting character.

From this pre-production phase, it is important to highlight the work done by the ne artist Luis Loaiza, who made a version of the storyboard, whose drawings captured much of the spirit of Diòba.

After nding the main location -the house inside a forest-, the

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Dióba emerged initially as images of an indigenous woman ran through my mind, a lonely hermit who lives outside her community. Then, I started to write versions of the story of Elba, a 63-year-old indigenous woman who su ers an internal con ict and nally manages to free herself.

The story of Diòba could be said to be minimalist, given that it is not a story with great adventures. The lm shows what Elba's daily life is like, what she does in her day-to-day life, how she lives in her solitude.

"Diòba" is a word from the Embera Eyábida language, and refers to being alone. The title sets focus on a speci c situation: the protagonist is alone. However, in the movie the loneliness is not portrayed as something pitiful, but rather as the character´s way of being.

I did not seek to make a closed story; on the contrary, I wanted to give viewers the freedom to interpret Elba's story according to their own sensitivity. In Dióba, the internal con ict of the protagonist is not presented with words or dialogues, but with everyday images.

I intend for spectators to go into Elba's time, and to complete the story themselves.

Time is stretched in the lm, but it is not static. The composition of the frames, the duration of each shot, the silent staging, are a function of the open approach to the story. Elba´s actions are presented without cuts; they are shots where the character lives.

Elba manages her time, a time disconnected from the duty to ful ll something at a precise moment. Diòba's time is free time, time that is felt, that is lived with the character.

This is a simple story, the story of an indigenous woman who is overwhelmed by her memories, and of how she manages to break free and rediscover her essence.

ADRIANA MARCELA ROJAS ESPITIA

Medellín / Colombia

Cinephile and visual creator. From an early age, she falls in love with the cinema, devouring lms in theaters and cine-clubs. She has been trained as a lmmaker through courses, workshops and certi ed courses. Lover of auteur cinema.

Advocates for a cinema that transgresses the conventional, appeals for a cinema that is free of formulas and sterotypes. She believes in cinema as a document of life, in transgressive cinema, in cinema that allows to be created freely.

Graduated from the undergraduate program in Social Communication and Journalism at Universidad de Antioquia in 2007. Master's degree in Plastic and Visual Arts from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2014.

Since 2005 she works in the audiovisual area. In 2010, she was awarded a scholarship by IBERMEDIA to attend the Cinematographic Photography and Cinematographic Montage workshops, through the CECAN and the EICTV, in Tenerife, Spain.

In 2013 she was selected for the Film workshop with Abbas Kiarostami, in Murcia - Spain.

As of 2014, she is the curator and director of the International Exhibition of video art and experimental cinema INTERMEDIACIONES / www.intermediaciones.org

DIÒBA is her rst ction feature lm, which is currently in its postproduction process.

INÉS GÓEZ CORTÉS Protagonist

Inés was born in Dabeiba, in the indigenous community of the Embera Eyábida. Her parents were murdered at the time of Colombia's bipartisan violence. She was raised by the Missionary Sisters of Mother Laura religious order. She lived in Cauca until she was 13 years old, and then she moved to the city of Medellín where she worked mainly as a community leader. She belonged to the Chibcariwak indigenous council in Medellín, and subsequently worked as a leader in social processes in the city. She lives with her daughter and grandchild. She has an innate talent for acting; in Diòba she gives life to Elba and endows the character with great emotional complexity. She is a natural actress with incredible talent. Diòba is her rst lm.

LUZ JAMIRA FORASTERO TUNAY

Secondary character

Luz Jamira is an indigenous girl of 13 years of age; she was born in the Catrú indigenous reservation, in Chocó Alto Baudó, belonging to the Embera Dobidá indigenous community. Due to violence in the country, her family had to move to the city of Medellín, where they have gone through a variety of economic problems. Currently enrolled in fth grade of elementary school, in a school at the Comuna 13 of Medellín. She lives with her mother, sisters and several relatives who have been displaced from their communities. In Diòba she plays a very important character in the life of Elba; She is a very talented girl, who has great acting skills. This is her rst movie.

CREW

Screenwriter, producer and director

ADRIANA MARCELA ROJAS ESPITIA

Protagonist

INÉS GÓEZ

Supporting Actress

LUZ JAMIRA FORASTERO TUNAY

FIRST PHASE OF FILMING

Director's assistant

JUAN DAVID MEJÍA VÁSQUEZ

CREW OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Director of Photography

ANDRÉS FELIPE PELÁEZ GÓMEZ

First assistant camera

CARLOS FEDERICO CARRANZA CARVAJAL

Set Decoration

GUSTAVO ADOLFO ANAYA

Sound

CARLOS ANDRÉS ARCILA

Microphonist

CRISTHIAN CASTRO AGUDELO

Still Photographers

JUAN SEBASTIÁN ESCOBAR CASTAÑEDA

ALEJANDRA CALLE QUINTERO

Production Assistants

JUAN ESTEBAN DÍAZ PUERTA

OLOWAILI GREEN

Also appearing

CECILIA DEL SOCORRO VANEGAS PATIÑO

TERESA DE JESÚS GUTIÉRREZ DE CASTRILLÓN

Gafer

JUAN SEBASTIÁN ESCOBAR CASTAÑEDA

ART CREW

Art director

KATHERINE RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA

Costume designer

JULIÁN JIMÉNEZ

Embera Eyábida Indigenous Thematic Advisor

MILEIDY OROZCO DOMICÓ

Legal advisor

María Adelaida Galeano

Film editor

ADRIANA ROJAS E.

SECOND PHASE OF FILMING

Camera operator

CHRISTIAN CARMONA CARDONA

Aquatic camera operator

LUIS GUILLERMO PALACIOS

Production Assistants

JESSICA MOMPOTES

ALEJANDRA CALLE QUINTERO

ÁLVARO RESTREPO

NATALY MARTÍNEZ

Production Company

OJO MÁGICO PRODUCTORA AUDIOVISUAL

Co-producers

JUAN ESTEBAN DÍAZ PUERTA

OLOWAILI GREEN

SentArte

JORGE FORERO

Marginal Cine

Translation presskit in English

Susana Gómez

Fernando Arenas

OJO MÁGICO PRODUCTORA AUDIOVISUAL Production Company

Ojo Mágico is an audiovisual production company that operates in the city of Medellín, specializing in the development and production of creative, independent flm and audiovisual projects. In their work, they strive to prioritize an authorial, artistic, and collaborative approach, with a focus on creating experimental and thought-provoking audiovisual content that challenges established norms. They value aesthetic and narrative forms that enable greater creative freedom.

SentARTE - ARTE CON SENTIDO Coproduction Company

SentARTE - Arte con Sentido is a cultural management and audiovisual production company with ofces in the cities of Medellín and Bogotá. Since 2015, they have been working to promote Colombian diversity using co-creative methodologies that prioritize the perspectives of diverse populations. Their goal is to make these populations visible, increase their recognition within our Colombian multicultural society, promote social integration, and preserve their culture.

OLOWAILI GREEN SANTACRUZ Coproducer

She is a GunaDule indigenous woman from the community of Caimán Nuevo in Urabá Antioqueño. Since 2015, she has been working as an audiovisual artist and cultural manager at SentARTE - arte con sentido, an enterprise focused on promoting visibility, social integration, and cultural preservation of her own and other diverse cultures. Her work has received great recognition at national and international levels.

In terms of production, she has been involved in various projects, including TRUAMBI (Documentary/2019), Truth and Peace for Indigenous Peoples (Documentary/2019), audiovisual campaigns for the International Poetry Festival of Medellin (2018) and Caminá pal Centro (2018 and 2019). She directed the documentary Galu Dugbis (2020) as part of the Buen Vivir series on Canal Trece. Currently, she is working on developing two documentaries: Suggunya 1698 and Mujeres Indígenas Tejiendo y Cultivando Vida.

JUANES DÍAZ PUERTA

Coproducer

As a flmmaker and audiovisual producer, Juanes is also an entrepreneur and co-creator of SentARTE Arte con Sentido, an organization that focuses on cultural management with a strong audiovisual approach to promote visibility, knowledge, and recognition of diversities within our multicultural society. Their work also aims to promote social integration and cultural preservation.

He has experience teaching courses of “Film and gender”, as well as creation, to diverse populations. Additionally, he has worked as a workshop leader in cultural and social processes to increase the visibility of indigenous diversities in Antioquia. As a producer and director, he has been involved in several audiovisual productions that use co-creative methodologies and are informed by the perspectives of the populations and their leaders.

MARGINAL CINE Coproduction Company

Marginal Cine was created un 2021 by Jorge Forero to develop daring audiovisual projects that explore the depth of the audiovisual language while aiming for multidisciplinary involvement in collective creation processes. Has produced the feature flms Matrioshka by Jorge Forero and Diòba by Adriana Rojas.

Jorge Forero also co-created the production company Burning Blue with which he produced La tierra y la sombra (Camera d'OrCannes 2015) by César Acevedo and Siete Cabezas (Warsaw 2017) by Jaime Osorio Márquez. He is Associate Producer of Oscar Ruiz Navia's Los Hongos (Locarno 2014) and co-producer of Enrica Pérez's Climas (Warsaw 2014), Diego Lerman's Refugiado (Cannes 2014), Fernando Guzzoni's Jesús (San Sebastian 2016) and Julio Hernández Cordón's Cómprame un revólver (Cannes 2018).

JORGE FORERO Coproducer

Colombian flmmaker Jorge Forero has worked as a director, producer, curator, and professor. He has also studied in Brazil, Cuba, and Colombia.

In 2021, he established Marginal Cine to develop daring audiovisual projects that explore the depth of the audiovisual language while aiming for multidisciplinary involvement in collective creation processes.

Additionally, in 2010 he co-founded Burning Blue, a flm production company, with which he produced Land and Shade by César Acevedo (Camera d’Or – Cannes 2015), as well as The Sacrifce by Jaime Osorio Márquez (Warsaw 2017).

He is also Executive Producer of Pavan Moondi’s Sundowners and Associate Producer of Oscar Ruiz Navia’s The Fungi (Locarno 2014). He has co-produced the feature flms Buy me a gun by Julio Hernández Cordón (Cannes 2018), Jesus by Fernando Guzzoni (San Sebastian 2016), Refugee by Diego Lerman (Cannes 2014) and Climas by Enrica Pérez (Warsaw 2014).

Violencia, his directorial debut, had its international premiere in 2015 at the Berlin Film Festival. Since then, it has screened at multiple flm festivals and has received multiple awards, including Best Film at the Huelva Film Festival’s Rábida section.

Also in 2021, he directed and produced his second feature flm, Matryoshka, which is currently in post-production and will be released in 2023.

https://ojomagico.com.co/dioba/