Festival Internacional de Cine De Barichara

Coro Polyphonica de Barichara presented at FICBA's first
annual event in Barichara, Colombia.

Perhaps you didn't hear much about this international film festival this year, but that was possibly because it was the first year, and perhaps because it didn't get much 'international' coverage, but the Festival Internacional de Cine de Barichara (FICBA) holds promise for the future. (The only 'official' link I could find - even before the event - was this one on Facebook and they never posted the schedule there. In fact, I am not sure anything was ever posted, even afterwards. Strange.)

At any rate, it was announced on the last night that plans for the second annual FICBA will be supported by local and regional entities and it will take place again in late June or early July of 2012, and some major young, international directors are promising to attend. This year there were 4 categories: Animation, Experimental, Documentaries and Fiction with 9 international 'samples' plus 5 architectural 'samples.' Running for four days and nights, there were lots and lots of young artistic faces in the village, and the awards all went to young Colombian competitors.

I was not in the mood that weekend for sitting in a folding chair for two hours over and over again, so I only went to one presentation and was sadly shocked at the subject matter. "Violeta Y Mil Colores," was filmed in New York, directed by Harold Trompettero, (in Spanish with English subtitles) and classified as a documentary. It is about a young woman who is wanting to commit suicide because she is so disillusioned with her life. I left before the ending. There were other movies that friends of mine attended and raved about and I wish now I had seen something more hopeful.

There is no movie theatre in this region, so everything was well-attended by all ages from here and from San Gil and Bucaramanga. For the younger crowd, after a day of forums, instructional presentations and informational seminars followed by movies in three locations from 6-10 p.m., there was a disco bar that functioned from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. I was pretty glad I was living in the hills away from all this!!

On Sunday evening, just before the award ceremony, our Coro Polyfonico de Barichara (the group has a Facebook page) sang two songs for the SRO crowd. We did a rondel, "Dona Nobis Pacem" by Mozart, and "Padre Nuestra," a Spanish version of the prayer, "Our Father," which were well received. But some days afterwards, several people asked me why we were singing such semi-catholic songs. I said, "It's what we were most practiced in..." I expect that with a full year to practice, we'll have a wider repertoire to offer if we are invited to present again next year.