A Night of Spooky Colombian Short Films

Accessibility Info: Captioning + English subtitling, flashing lights, loud noises and violence.  +15 age

When: Wed 1 November, doors open at 19:30, screening starts at 20:00.

Where: CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts (350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD).

A Halloween-themed programme of shorts, revealing how Colombian filmmakers transpose suspense, thriller and horror to the screen. The programme has been curated to reflect the many faces of this syncretic holiday, which in Colombia reshaped the Christian festivities of All Saints and All Souls, following the invasion of the Spanish in the 16th century. Today the country practices its own Trick or Treat festivities, where it is also known as Día de los Niños (Day of the Children). At the same time, it remains associated with the well-known themes of the season, like witchcraft, ghosts and monsters, deeply rooted in everyday life in Colombian society and expressed through popular beliefs, urban myths and traditional medicine.

This programme has been curated in collaboration with Maria Gundestrup-Larsen.

Paloquemao: The Vampire Market / Dir. Jeferson Cardoza Herrera / Colombia / 2023

Short Films Selection:

LAS FAUCES – THE VOID OF MAWS | Mauricio Maldonado | Colombia | 2020 | 15 mins.

On the foggy slopes of mysteriously deserted roads, Deivis, an isolated teenager finds an injured body. A young man that belongs to the world of the dead, will be the only bridge to find a group of people that will put an end to his loneliness. The longing for a new family as a dream of times gone by.

Festivals: Havana Film Festival 2020, Festival Internacional de Cine de Valdivia 2020 + 2022, Festival Internacional de Curtas Metragens de São Paulo 2020, Bogoshorts – Bogota Short Film Festival 2020.

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BOSQUE OSCURO – DARK FOREST | Nicolas León Sánchez | Colombia | 2020 | 15 mins.

Helena wakes up one night in a motel room, next to her lover. There the TV turns on and without realizing it, Helena ends up involved in a contest program, where an eccentric presenter will make her remember her deepest secrets through mind games, to the point of despair and frustration that will make her murder the Man next to her.

Festivals: Jairo Pinilla Award: Best Latin American Horror Short Film Fantasmagría, Medellín 2021; Official Selection Festival de cine corto de Popayán 2020.   

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LA VIRGEN NEGRA – BLACKMARIA | Juan Pablo Caballero | Colombia | 2018 | 18 mins.

Belisario’s wife is very ill. A healer comes to meet them. He gives Belisario the mission of climbing the Andes to bring back a powerful object buried in the snow and try to save her.

Festivals: Clermont-Ferrand – International Short Film Festival 2018, Huesca International Film Festival 2018, Sète Amérique Latine Semaine Artistique 2018, Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara 2019, Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana 2018.

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ANTES DE LAS 4 – A QUARTER TO 4 | Catalina Matamoros | Colombia | 2022 | 9 mins.

Darío (54) has been a taxi driver in Bogotá for 30 years. Day by day, he avoids the dangers of the street amidst funny anecdotes that his passengers tell him. The trip he remembers most happened one cold morning in the capital in 1999 when a silent doctor asked him to take her to the San José Hospital.

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PALOQUEMAO: EL MERCADO DE LOS VAMPIROS – PALOQUEMAO: THE VAMPIRE MARKET | Jeferson Cardoza Herrera | Colombia | 2022 | 19 mins.

When a blood trafficking network is dismantled, Harbey and Pedro, two of the vampires from a market place in Bogotá, must look for alternatives to satisfy their addiction, threatening the stability of this place.

Festivals:Lund Fantastic Film Festival 2022, Bogotá Short Film Festival BOGOSHORTS (Premios: Mejor Dirección y Mejor Dirección de Arte) 2022, London Short Film Festival 2023, Iberoamerican Film Festival Miami 2023, Bogotá Horror Fest 2023, Espanto Film Fest 2023 (Etc…)

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Bonus Track:

PACTO CON EL DIABLO – A PACT WITH THE DEVIL | Jairo Pinilla | Colombia | 2006 | 11 mins.

The story of an unemployed man, who desperately finds a way to get money by selling his soul to the devil.

Jairo Pinilla. Colombian filmmaker.

The legendary director of Horror B-movies Jairo Pinilla filmed this short production in 2006 in the Parque Nacional in Bogotá city.

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Accessibility Info:

Captioning + English subtitling.

Flashing lights, loud noises, violence. 

+15 age