Animation is the medicine against violence. Carlos Santa delivers his most ambitious films, both shown in Edinburgh for first time. A love letter to Colombia, a bold attempt of an artist seeking to use Animation as a means for reconciliation.

A special Double Bill showing of Carlos Santa’s most well known masterpiece “The Mysterious Presages of León Prozak” and his latest film ” Relatos de Reconciliacion”. An unmissable double bill in which, through poetic metaphors and animated documentary, Carlos Santa disseminates the cruel and relentless conflicts shaking the most recent years of Colombian society. Critic first, Reconciliation later.

Relatos de Reconciliación is a transmedia project that interprets the stories of some victims of violence in Colombia. Carlos Santa’s latest work “Relatos de Reconciliacion” goes beyond making a film. The director, with the help of a series of artists and activists, are developing this nationwide project to guarantee a safe space for victims who suffered the widespread violence that has shaken Colombian society to come forward, mapping those cases, naming and shaming but also using the power of Animation and music to find closure and reconciliation for the victims.

Los Extraños Presagios de León Prozak / The Mysterious Presages of León Prozak

Colombia                        , 2009,  67’00”

In Spanish with English subtitles

Screenplay: Carlos Santa

Storyboard: Victor Vasquez, Olga Lucia Mesa, Luis Rodriguez, Cony Tovar, Ximena De Valdenebro

Animation: Carlos Santa, Víctor Vega, Cecilia Translaviña, Juan Camilo González, Jorge Palma, Simón Wilches, Lina Pérez, Omaira Alvarado

Producer: José Luis Rugeles Gracia

Synopsis:

León Prozak lends his head to Mephistópheles for a circus act.

The latest Colombian animation international success is the experimental feature entitled The Mysterious Presages of León Prozak. It is an “exquisite corpse”, a metamorphic play with film language and techniques (super-8 film shots, traditional and illustrated animation, scratching directly onto the film itself, rotoscoping, collage, animation of clay and sand, all produced by various artists), an animation film that – from beginning to end – seeks the path to diversities in the art of film, poetry, graphics and music. At the same time, the film is an allegory of the recent Latin American socio-political issues (political repression and the disappeared individuals, press censorship, etc.). A story about an individual searching for his muse, it partially bears resemblance to Goethe’s version of Faustus, Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé, as well as to the works by Federico Fellini (whose voice appears in the film), who is – in particular – a reference to the symbol of the perfect artist, circus performer or animation artist, the one who, by painting or drawing, makes time stop. Contrary to Faustus, rather than selling his soul, the artist sells Mephistopheles his head, which is a symbol of the creative charge; this fully reflects the time we live in and the slogan used in the film: “Today, anything can be bought!”
Relatos de Reconciliacion

Relatos de Reconciliación is a transmedia project that interprets the stories of some victims of violence in Colombia.

“In its realization we have counted on the support and work of hundreds of artists, -animators, musicians and researchers-, with whom we have built 90 minutes an animated feature film in different techniques, directed by Carlos Santa and Rubén Monroy.

The soundtrack of Relatos de Reconciliación was composed by maestro Fabio Miguel Fuentes, performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Caldas and directed by maestro Leonardo Marulanda.

The website that contains the interviews, related data as a complement to a transmedia narrative and an invitation to other artists to provide their interpretation.

Relatos de Reconciliación has also been a comprehensive research project, whose purpose is for young talents to explore different techniques and narratives. The issue on which we have built has allowed our team to generate a closer relationship with what war, peace, reconciliation and violence means for Colombia, its contribution has been the commitment to the protagonists of the stories, respect by his look and his conscience in front of his role as political subjects.

Un Unmissable Night of Animation & Social Justice