Colombians reflect on the culture of fear and conflict that has affected their country and it’s citizens with a special festival in Bogota.
The “Uy Festival” seeks to create a space that it’s creators deem “necessary to make a reflection of fear, from a social and cultural perspective.”
One of the event’s producers, Solarte William Lindo, explained that the interest and idea for the festival came from words like fear, panic, and terror that arose because “there are many people affected by the political, economic, and social situation” that’s ongoing in Colombia.
According to Lindo, the country is not only feeling the restlessness of those living in fear of the conflict, but an additional “huge number of people who are afraid of losing their house, a family member, of being robbed, attacked, or part of unemployment figures.”
“Many are scared of the global crisis and how it affects the economy,” the founder explained, and for this reason the festival was born. Fear and terror are “natural feelings shared by all human beings. The problem is how fear affects us or how it can be used by others, or have the power to control us,” Lindo said.
The festival has three central themes; fear and it’s relation to war, armed conflict, and terrorism, fear and it’s relation to art and literature, as a key element of imagination and artistic creation, and daily fears such as that of public speaking, flying on an plane, or a disease.
Lasting October 31 through November 2 at the Gimnasio Moderno school, 40 free activities are being offered, ranging from talks about fear, photography exhibits, film screenings, and a seance with the dead. Full programing for the fearful festival can be found online.