Colombia, Presente! offers a portrait of a country that refuses to be reduced to a single image.

Across six contemporary short films, Colombia emerges through bodies, landscapes, memory, desire and conflict — but also through music, humour, imagination and tenderness.

This year, Colombia was shaken by devastating earthquakes, bringing tragedy and loss to communities across the country. Yet Colombia continues to move forward, carrying its grief while holding on to the hope of healing and overcoming.

“Presente!” is both a declaration and a response. It is the voice of a generation saying: we are here, we remember, we question, we imagine, we continue.

📅 Saturday 24th October
🕐 8:30pm
📍 South Leith Parish Church Hall, 6 Henderson St, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6BS

With this programme, we bring together new and emerging voices from Colombia’s vibrant film scene alongside established auteurs, including Theo Montoya, whose new short Pelotón Trueno (Thunder Platoon) premiered in the Official Short Film Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and Leinad Pájaro de la Hoz, whose Un pájaro voló premiered and won at Berlinale.

These are films that have travelled widely, from Cannes and Berlinale to Tribeca, Locarno, FICCI and Bogoshorts, gathering awards, special mentions and audiences along the way.

(Still from Un pájaro voló – A bird flew by Leinad Pájaro de la Hoz)

The films move between reality and fantasy, documentary sensibility and fiction, the everyday and the surreal. Their characters inhabit spaces where childhood meets adulthood, where memory meets the present, and where personal stories carry the weight of larger histories.

There is also a Colombia beyond its borders. Migration becomes both physical journey and emotional rupture; memory travels with those who leave, while identity remains something continually reconstructed. The country in these films is therefore not fixed within a geographical boundary. It travels in bodies, memories, languages and dreams.

SHORT FILMS

Un pájaro voló (A bird flew) — Leinad Pájaro de la Hoz, Colombia/Cuba (2024), 20 min

As birds flutter in a large empty coliseum, time and death come together one night. The memory of a friend who is no longer there invades the mind of Boloy, the main player of the Cuban national volleyball team, who, despite his grief, tries to return to his morning training.

Pelotón Trueno (Thunder Platoon) — Theo Montoya, Colombia/France (2025), 15 min

Early 2000s, Colombia. The Thunder Platoon, a group of young Colombian soldiers, celebrates a recent victory in combat at a tropical estate. Their commander, Montoya, is also preparing to be decorated for his role in the fight against the “terrorism” of the time. As night falls, however, the celebration is interrupted by a violent storm.

Niña Chilapa (Chilapa Girl) — Juana Lotero López, Colombia (2025), 17 min

Yulieth, an 11-to-13-year-old girl, is growing up in a wild territory where natural beauty coexists with the hostility of machismo. A brave and rebellious girl, she moves toward adolescence while trying to understand her changing body, desires and identity. As her childhood games give way to the responsibilities of adulthood and motherhood, Yulieth finds herself caught between what she wants and what her surroundings expect of her.

Más Allá (Beyond) — Bettina López Mendoza, Venezuela / Canada / Colombia / United States (2025), 15 min

After being separated from her mother while crossing the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama, Zuli, a young Venezuelan migrant, is forced to abandon her childhood in order to survive. Guiding migrants through the Darién Gap, she encounters a magical portal that transports her to another world. There, Zuli reconnects with her imagination and discovers that perhaps she can be a child again.

Malicia — Edward Gómez Granada, Colombia (2024), 15 min

Malicia and Chinga, two young downhill bikers, reunite to remember their best friend El Mono, who died a year earlier. In a neighbourhood where growing up means learning to survive, Chinga’s bicycle is stolen, and Malicia is determined to get it back. As violence continues to surround them and danger closes in, the two friends are forced to play at being adults before their time.

Una vez en un cuerpo (Once in a body) — María Cristina Pérez González, Colombia / United States (2025), 10 min

While dealing with a strange being that lives inside her, a woman seeks to reconcile with her sister over an incident from their adolescence. By exploring the experiences they share through their bodies, she confronts the nature of what inhabits her.

This programme brings together filmmakers who look at Colombia not from a single perspective, but from many points of view. Their films remind us that to speak of Colombia today is to speak of a country in transformation — and of cinema as a space where that transformation can be seen, felt and imagined. This programme is an attempt to offer a portrait of a country in constant movement.

So let’s shout it once again: Colombia! Presente!