HUILA NEWSPAPER, OVERVIEW
By: Johan Eduardo Rojas Lopez
The short film ‘La Culpa Es De La Chiva’ was officially presented, an audiovisual production with 100% opita human talent that seeks to conquer 8 national and international film festivals and open the way for the region’s talents.
In order to strengthen the region’s film industry, the short film ‘La Culpa Es De La Chiva’ was made, with clearly opita talent. This project will be the cover letter to promote and enhance the region’s talent. For now, it is known that they will possibly participate in 8 national and international festivals.
The idea came from the director and writer Oswaldo Aldana Castellanos and the producer Sandra Liliana Gutiérrez Prada, who identified the need and importance of promoting the film industry in the department of Huila. They then decided to unite their professional career and bet on the project that today opens space for future artists.
Oswaldo Aldana Castellanos, director and screenwriter of the short film, stated that, “The idea arose when I saw that unfortunately the film industry was not as developed as in other regions and after my return to the city I knew that it would be important to start doing things cinematically speaking. ”
He added that the idea of the short film was born as a response to the invitation to several festivals, which motivated him to write the script and involve Huila talent in the pre-production, production and post-production part. That is, to highlight the entire composition of the team.
“We started pre-production in mid-February defining the team, locations, permits, making agreements. Filming took place between April 20 and 21, and post-production was subsequently carried out. Everything was owned and worked on, so much so that the music is original by maestro Juan Diego Rojas”, stated the Director.
‘La Culpa Es De La Chiva’ is based on several real-life stories, inspired by so many characters who have been judged and almost destroyed by information that circulates through social networks and the media, however, as in the most stories, also has fictional overtones.
Will they participate in festivals?
Indeed, with this project they seek to tour the world in 8 festivals. Currently they have a fixed quota of three, and the other five will barely face the selection stage. What is almost a fact is that they will be in Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Italy and, of course, Colombia, where they will take and show this initiative.
Under this logic, they seek that the name of the region begins to sound in national and international festivals so that in the next editions the invitations are direct and thus open the way to many talents who want to participate in this type of area.
“Our purpose is definitely for the 8 festivals, as optimism always has to reign, because I wish I could win all 8, but we know that the fight is not easy because they are national and international. However, we know and we are certain that we have a quality audiovisual piece and a story that can be very attractive for the jury precisely because of the theme that is handled,” said Oswaldo Aldana.
The additional fee of this entire process is that they are waiting for the resolution as a national product issued by the Ministry of Culture and that is completely valuable because this audiovisual piece will remain in the custody of the National Library of Colombia, which means an important stamp for the region.
In total, the entire team was 24 people and all the locations used were from the city of Neiva, such as: Streets in the center and east of the city. In addition, nightclubs, restaurants, shopping centers. The short film had the participation of: Edwar Zúñiga, Carlos Aldana, Mileidy Bravo, Catalina Cardona, Manuela Morales, Camila Moreno, Brayan Cardona, Catalina Caviedes, Cristian Gutiérrez, Andrés Villanueva, Valery Parra, Ignacio Andrés Paredes, among others.
Encourage Huilense art
For her part, the producer Sandra Liliana Gutiérrez Prada, detailed the importance of encouraging Huila art and explained that, “I come from a marked artistic line, therefore, from a very young age I like culture, music, art. So I have always been close to that cultural world. As a result of the pandemic, since we were all shocked by everything that happened, many of us had to reactivate ourselves. And we decided to do it together, but each one from their points, in my case from the commercial part, in order to unite those two forces always thinking of activating ourselves in the professional part and being able to do cool things”.
Hence, they thought about how to execute something that would lift and exalt the region, for that reason, they always wanted to do something alluding to everything that is native to the department of Huila. Consequently, they found in music, gastronomy, dance, dialect, tourism and economy, the exact dynamics to be expressed and exteriorized through their articulated work.
At first, the idea of a series was had in order to dynamize everything that was happening at that time, since the idea has been working since October 2020. At the same time, they were finding the team that is currently consolidated.
In front of the convinced commercials, the producer explained that, “It has not been easy because more than things have not happened in such a positive way as we have dreamed, we know that we come from a pandemic connotation and we have had several events that stopped the economy of the country and the department. It hasn’t been easy either because there is really a lack of knowledge that through the law of the cinema, because entrepreneurs can have an important value with a tax section, it is a very unknown subject.
“However, since it is a new topic for the city and the department, then we find open doors from some entities or companies in the region that recognize the consolidation of a work team that has talent and needs an opportunity. In addition, they know that with these incentives social development can be generated”, adds Sandra.
The importance of this short film, as Sandra explains, does not lie in the theme as such, but in the spectrum that opens up from this effort. Thus, according to Sandra Liliana Gutiérrez Prada, what mattered most was the support of government entities and human talent. However, there is also some ignorance on the part of the government for some permits that have to be given with this type of initiative.
This is how they invite government entities to support this type of cultural and artistic initiatives to promote this industry that, according to studies by the Ministry of Culture and other entities, boost the economy, tourism and the development of the regions.
“Many things are coming, but we have to go step by step because there are many things to do, carry out and execute. One of those is that the municipal and departmental government make the film law visible for all those who want to work along this line. Now there are new and interesting things to develop and let’s say that the big product we want to carry out this year is to take our work to big stages or platforms that want to give us the opportunity to show what we want to do”, concludes the Producer.
Finally, they describe this experience as wonderful and interesting, because they found the doors open in the Cineland movie theaters and the best of all has been the response of the people who know that they have 100% opita material.
For now, due to festival policies, the short film cannot be shown on any platform, therefore, they hope that in a year they can release it to the public in the different movie theaters in the country.
Nobody is a prophet in their own land
The piece, which lasted 10 minutes, brings together a human talent that is prepared, but unfortunately due to lack of opportunities and spaces, many times they have to leave the region. For this reason, this project has focused on gathering talent, joining forces and do local things
Synopsis
‘La Culpa Es De La Chiva’ tells the story of a publicist who was involved in a news story for which he had no responsibility, but unfortunately the media and social networks misuse the information, and there a series of situations are triggered. It is seeing the power of the dissemination of content and the window that opens for society to give its opinion about the lives of others, without knowing the reality.
