The 65th Cannes Film Festival kicked off Wednesday and this year will include three films from Colombian directors.
The festival will run from May 16 – 27 and feature one full-length film by Colombian director Juan Andres Arango as well as two short films from directors Franco Lolli and William Vega.
Director Juan Andres Arango will screen his film “La Playa D.C.” (The Beach D.C.) in the Certain Regard section which highlights “original and different” international works.
The film marks Arango’s first appearance at the festival, tells the story of two Afro-Colombians who flee the violence of their homeland in the Pacific department of Choco, and come to Bogota where they face new challenges.
Most of the characters are played by Colombians with no previous acting experience. “It took four years of work to find the funding and to make the film how we wanted to do it,” said Jorge Botero of Septima Films, one of the movie’s producers.
“Rodri” by director Franco Lolli depicts the story of a family dealing with unemployment and will appear in the Short Film Corner. The film was inspired by its two main actors, the director’s mother and uncle.
Lolli will return to directing his first full-length film after the festival.
The third film, “La Sirga” (The Towrope) by Colombian director William Vega, is a short which tells the story of Alicia, a young woman who is displaced by the conflict and moves to a hostel on a secluded lake high up in the Andes, where she befriends a lonely man named Oscar.
This year also marks the tenth anniversary of the “Film in Latin America” section which has been won twice by Colombian directors.