Hostage in the Jungle

Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis

June 2022 •German

In August 1988, two armed bank robbers keep German police at bay for 54 hours during a hostage-taking drama that ends in a shootout and three deaths.

Colombia in My Arms

November 2022 •Finnish

After 52 years of armed conflict the FARC guerrillas are about to hand over their arms in exchange for political participation and social inclusion of the poor. Ernesto is one of them. The much celebrated Colombian peace agreement throws Ernesto and the polarised society around him into chaos in which everyone is afraid of the future and their own survival.

One Day in September

October 1999 •English

The full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God.' The 1972 Munich Olympics were interrupted by Palestinian terrorists taking Israeli athletes hostage. Besides footage taken at the time, we see interviews with the surviving terrorist, Jamal Al Gashey, and various officials detailing exactly how the police, lacking an anti-terrorist squad and turning down help from the Israelis, botched the operation.

Suspension

November 2019 •Spanish

In the depths of the Colombian jungle, the skeleton of an immense abandoned cement bridge is tucked away. It has turned into a delusional tourist attraction.

Falsos Positivos

January 2009 •English

The "Falsos Positivos" scandal that exploded on October 2008 revealed how and why ranks of the Colombian Army started to kill innocent people. Lured by money prizes given by the President Uribe's policy called "Seguridad Democratica", the Colombian Army dressed the bodies in military fatigues to claim the rewards for the fight against the FARC guerrilla. "Falsos Positivos" follows the trip of two families to retrieve the rests of their beloved, along with shocking interviews to activists, a former General, political analysts and witnesses of this huge scandal.

Ciro and Me

January 2018 •Spanish

Ciro Galindo was born on August 29th, 1952 in Colombia. Wherever he's gone, war has found him. After twenty years of friendship, I understood Ciro 's life sums up Colombia's history. As so many Colombians he is a survivor, who has run away from war for more than sixty years, and now dreams of living in peace. "Ciro and Me" is a journey to memory, seeking to give sorrow words; a journey, similar to that of Colombia in times of peace, in search to recover its dignity.

Lo Mejor de Jaime Garzón

November 2006 •Spanish

A Matter of Land

March 2015 •Spanish

A Matter of Land recounts the first year of application of Colombian's Land Restitution Act from the perspective of a community who decide to engage with the process. The film explores the tensions that arise when such communities come face to face with the complex institutions responsible for enforcing the law. The result of these tensions is a narrative worthy of Kafka, in which a doorway to justice is opened for the sole purpose of demonstrating that no one can pass through it.

La Buena Vida - The Good Life

January 2015 •German

The village of Tamaquito lies deep in the forests of Colombia. Here, nature provides the people with everything they need. But the Wayúu community's way of life is being destroyed by the vast and rapidly growing El Cerrejón coal mine. Determined to save his community from forced resettlement, the leader Jairo Fuentes negotiates with the mine's operators, which soon becomes a fight to survive.

Foreign Wars

June 2016 •Spanish

From the land of narco-violence to the land of displaced persons. The documentary Guerras Ajenas ('Wars of Others') explores the consequences of the war on drugs in Colombia, and one of its main tools: aerial spraying.

Bad Hostage

June 2024 •English

In a investigation into the pernicious origins of Stockholm Syndrome, a thrilling family story intersects with a dramatic bank robbery in Sweden (1973) and the famous kidnapping of Patty Hearst (1974).

When Multinationals Attack Nation States

December 2016 •French

In autumn 2016, demonstrations sprang up all over Europe against the CETA free-trade agreement between the European Union and Canada. The reason? An obscure clause which allows multinationals to sue nation states if they feel their profits may be damaged by government decisions. An investigation into the hidden world of international arbitration.

Tomorrow's Power

March 2017 •English

Tomorrow’s Power is a feature length documentary that showcases three communities around the world and their responses to economic and environmental emergencies they are facing. In the war-torn, oil-rich Arauca province in Colombia, communities have been building a peace process from the bottom up. In Germany activists are pushing the country to fully divest from fossil-fuel extraction and complete its transition to renewable energy. In Gaza health practitioners are harnessing solar power to battle daily life-threatening energy blackouts in hospitals.

Beatriz González, why are you crying?

April 2011 •Spanish

What happened to painter Beatriz González, who made us laugh with the irony of her works, to get to the point of making a self-portrait that shows her crying naked? The path of the artist is intimately linked with the history of Colombia during the past fifty years.

Plan Colombia: Cashing In on the Drug War Failure

October 2003 •English

Ed Asner narrates this documentary about U.S. involvement in Colombia's drug trafficking and civil unrest. The film examines the impact of chemical spraying and military funding and reveals alternate U.S. interests. Features interviews with Noam Chomsky, the late Senator Paul Wellstone, Colombian Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Congressmen John Conyers and Jim McGovern, U.S. State Department officials, guerilla leaders and others.

It All Started at the End

September 2015 •Spanish

An intimate portrait of the pioneering artistic collective Grupo de Cali, whose work is now considered a fundamental part of Colombia’s film history.

The Penny War

December 1985 •Spanish

Drivers of urban public transport in Bogotá do not receive a fixed salary¸ only a percentage per passenger picked up. Through the testimony of two champions of this daily war¸ an unpleasant daily life is shown¸ distressing and dangerous¸ both for the users and for the drivers themselves los and from which the only ones who benefit are the great transport entrepreneurs¸ true architects of a bloody war in which the State is hardly an indolent spectator.

Chiquinquirá, May 15th

Invalid date •Spanish

In 1998, the President of Colombia dared to demilitarise a zone to carry out peace negotiations with the FARC-EP guerrilla group, but chaos erupted. A pivotal 2000 attack shifted the tide. Crafted solely from news archives, this film presents the atrocious event that changed the country's destiny.

A Paper Tiger

April 2008 •Spanish

The life of Pedro Manrique Figueroa, a pioneer of collage in Colombia, is both incomplete and contradictory. Taking his life and work as a pretext, this mockumentary takes the viewer on a journey through history from the year 1934 up until 1981, when the artist mysteriously disappeared from view.

Mama Goema: The Cape Town Beat in Five Movements

June 2011 •English

If you take a pinch of Khoi-San lament, a dash of Malay spice, a bold measure of European orchestral, a splash of Xhosa spiritual, a clash of marching bands, a riff of rock, the pizzazz of the Klopse, some driving primal beat, and a lot of humour and musical virtuosity, what do you get? Goema Goema Goema! Weaving together the ancient, the traditional, and the classical into the contemporary universal sound of Cape Town, Mac MacKenzie, musical mastermind and founder of The Genuines and The Goema Captains of Cape Town, puts together the final touches to the culmination of his life’s work: Goema in Five Movements. Musicians and musical commentators Hilton Schilder, Neo Muyanga, Iain Harris and Graham Arendse, and new kids on the block, Kyle Shepherd and Shane Cooper, add a contemporary context to Goema, while the orchestra rehearses for its premiere performance at the SABC studios.