Walking through Bogotá it would be hard to ignore the overwhelming presence of those who call its streets home. Thousands of young people make up this sub-group of society, a legacy of decades of political instability. This film takes place in one of 26 houses set up by “the Institution for the Protection of Childhood and Adolescence“ (IDIPRON) located in the centre of Bogotá.
Saliendo Adelante explores the life of José who, now in his early 20´s, has lived on the streets since the age of 6. José is now attempting to change his life´s trajectory by talking part in a programme of social rehabilitation offered by the institution. Through the film we are also introduced to the work of Orlando, a teacher at the Institution, and his efforts to offer those like José other ways of visualizing the world around them.
I have recently graduated from a Master´s programme in visual anthropology at Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester. This film was my graduation project, which I received a distinction for. On the course I made a number of other films and photography based projects, largely informed and inspired by the principles of observational cinema.
Director and production: Ben Cheetham
Language of dialogues: Spanish
Language of subtitles: English, Czech
This film narrates the meeting with Sara Marielle Gaup and Lawra Somby, two young performers of joik (Sami chanting technique), born in the north and the south of Sápmi (the cultural nationhood of Sami people in North Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia). They have come together through a creative musical project called “Adjágas” which in Sami means “the state between sleep and awakening”. In this peculiar state one can unveil reality and tune into the most profound and original joiks. Adjágas, in this way bring the musical-lyrical practice of joik toward the international musical scene by performing with musicians of different horizons, and adapting its performances to the context of reception. The protagonists express different ways of life and concerns, relating also to what it means to be young artists with an indigenous background, having to work a way into the musical industry. It is also a film about what in the waves of the past is worth struggling for understanding, and how joik brings together everyday life, politics and spirituality and becomes a language healing the pain from the colonial history of the past.
The filmmakers follow various alternative forms of socail thought, based on cooperation, openness and direct exchange of experience. They encounter on the various initiatives that seek to restore the dynamic exchange of people and culture. Dialoque with representatives and activists such as: open source trends, Permaculture, Qi gong, „Art exchange“, „Food not bombs“, presents a new from of „gift“ meaning.
