Carabalí (en)

Carabalí

Selection: 

Director: 

Medhin Tewolde Serrano

Country: 

  • Mexico

Format: 

Feature film

Type: 

Documentary

Film exhibited in Toulouse: 

Negra - Découvertes Documentaire 2021

Script writer(s): 

Medhin Tewolde Serrano

Synopsis: 

Carabalí is an Afro-Colombian leader who is currently in exile. After receiving countless death threats from armed paramilitary groups in his region, he had to leave his community to protect his life. Far away, alone, in refuge and exile, he is invaded by doubt if the fight was worth it. But it is also from that distance that he strives to maintain contact and strengthen the bonds that bring him closer to his family, his community and the struggle. That is where he finds the answers to his doubts and reaffirms that the fight, his fight, must continue from whatever location he is in.

Visual concept: 

The treatment is thought of as a weave between "over there" and "here". The "here" is the space of exile that Carabalí inhabits at this moment, which is uncertain to the audience. These are places that he inhabits and that are alien to him, hidden. The “over there” represents his community, the living memory of his memories: the image of what he longs for and misses the most, the voices of his family and loved ones that remind him and make him present in his daily life.