THINKING LIKE A MOUNTAIN
Documentary, 2018, 91. min, Colombia, Germany
LOGLINE
The Arhuacos are the guardians of the forest and the ice of Colombias highest mountain. While on the surface this ancient culture appears not to have changed in centuries, Thinking Like a Mountain reveals a much more complex reality.
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SINOPSIS
The Arhuacos are the guardians of the forest and the ice of Colombias highest mountain- the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. They draw from this unique environment a sustained and singular spirituality. For the first time in their history the Arhuacos invited a filmmaker, Alexander Hick, to visit the most remote communities and sacred sites in the heartland of their territory. „Thinking like a Mountain“ tells the story of resistance and preservation of nature, which is a voyage through space and time: from the shores of the Caribbean to the stars that light up the night on the glacier; from the Arhuacos encounter with the first colonising whites, to the homecoming of an Arhuaco guerrillero following the laying-down of arms by the FARC.
While on the surface the Arhuaco culture appears not to have changed in centuries, this film reveals quite the opposite. The cosmogony specific to this territory and its people has been preserved due to the self imposed isolationism of the Arhuacos, but a solemn history of violence is progressively drawn out through the film brought on by the changing political and spiritual landscape. In a thought provoking and pointed manner the film explores the colliding of two cultures and portraits indigenous life in the 21th century where isolationism seems to vanish, just like the glacier held sacred by its people.
ATL TLACHINOLLI (SCORCHED WATER)
Documentary, 2015, 78. min, Mexico, Germany
LOGLINE
Searching for the unique Axolotl, a endemic salamander that used to live in the former lake of Mexico, Atl Tlachinolli is an essayistic inquiry into survival and adaptation, the film casts its gaze on that which remains.
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„In order to escape being sacrificed, the God Xólotl transforms himself into a salamander, fleeing from what he once was. His death was necessary in order to bring forth a new era.“ So relates the voice in the essay film Atl Tlachinolli (Scorched water), which tells of the search for the Axolotl, a salamander that lives in the lakes surrounding Mexico City. The Axolotl- an Aztec word for „water monster“- lives its entire life in the water, refusing to undergo metamorphosis and conform to terrestrial life. The animal was seen for the last time in its natural habitat in 2014. A fishermen who survives on the outskirts of the megalopolis tells of its disappearance. Cognizant of the mythological immortality that surrounds the strange creature, he expresses the desire to transform into one himself. Taking up this mythology of transformation from god to animal as a metaphor for Mexico City itself, the director accompanies a corrupt policeman and brutal gang members in the sprawling suburbs of the megalopolis. He examines the struggle for survival in what was the former lake of Mexico but is today the habitat of 23 million people.
SAN AGUSTIN
Documentary, 2012, 72. min, Spain, Germany
LOGLINE
In the midst of the world’s biggest fruit and vegetable garden, the so called ‚Mar del plástico’, lies
the Andalusian village of San Agustín. There, a mysterious virus threatens the harvest, bacteria
attacks the plants and the authorities are after the illegal workforce in the greenhouses. Two
families, a village tavern and a lot of vegetable. One extraordinary harvest season in nine
chapters.
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https://dafilms.com/film/10117-san-agustin-low-tide-in-the-plastic-sea-de-version
SINOPSIS
In the midst of the world’s biggest fruit and vegetable garden, the so called ‚Mar del plástico’, lies the Andalusian village of San Agustín. For the local planters this season’s atmosphere is
prophesying crisis: A mysterious virus threatens the harvest, bacteria attacks the plants and the authorities are after the illegal workforce in the greenhouses. Planter José Maria would rather choose to live among vegetables than people anyway, while the Crespo family, who seems to belong to a different time era, tries to get by with vegetables, breeding goats and a giant compost pile. This is all part of the daily routine for Paco, the village tavern’s barman, who knows all of his customers’ problems. San Agustín takes an out of the ordinary look at the ‚Mar del plástico‘ – Europe’s most important
producer and vendor of fruit and vegetables – as it fights with it’s own existence once more during the cucumber crisis of 2011. Two families, a village tavern and a lot of vegetables. One extraordinary harvest season in nine chapters.
Notes on Film 