Our Song to War

A film by

Belgium / Colombia | 14' | 05/2018 | documentary

Crocodile-men, a mystic river, some kids that like fishing and a war that ends share the same Colombian land; Bojaya. In this place, villagers have strange beliefs and celebrate the “Novenario” death ritual.

This might be the beginning of a very long story, where spirits and humans meet each other to learn what is there to life after the end of war.

Square Eyes - Quinzaine de réalisateurs - laurel 2018
Square Eyes - IDFA-BLACK-Comp-ShD18
Square Eyes - Clermont Ferrand - Laurel 2019 Lab
Square Eyes - Quinzaine de réalisateurs - laurel 2018
Square Eyes - IDFA-BLACK-Comp-ShD18
Square Eyes - Clermont Ferrand - Laurel 2019 Lab

Juanita Onzaga

Biography

Juanita Onzaga is a Colombian-Belgian film director and DOP who plays with hybrid forms of film, combining fiction, documentary and experimental elements.

Within her narrations she touches the importance of memory, death and imagination, creating tales that reflect different ways of perceiving reality, often within a strong political context. Watching her work, you wander in dreams, jungles and cities surrounded by spirits.

In 2017, her short film The Jungle Knows You Better Than You Do won the Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Berlinale in the section Generation 14plus, the VAF wildcard and other prizes while selected in festivals as San Sebastian, Sao Paulo, Reykjavik, Vilnius and Cartagena.

Onzaga’s new short film Our Song To War recently premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

She is currently developing her first fiction feature film “The Landscapes That You Seek” at the Torino Script Lab supported by Hubert Bals Bright Future.

Filmography

  • Our Song to War – short documentary – 2018
  • The Jungle Knows You Better Than You Do – short documentary – 2017
  • Here/Nowhere– short choreography – 2014
  • Skin of the Other– short documentary – 2014
Square Eyes - Director - Juanita Onzaga - Square Eyes

Crew

Director: Juanita Onzaga
Screenplay: Juanita Onzaga
Producer: RANA Films & De Chinezen: Juanita Onzaga, Jan Stevens, Sofie Despeer
Cinematographer: Juanita Onzaga
Editor: Juanita Onzaga
Sound designer: Jeremy Bocquet
Sound Recording: Andrés Rangel, Nicolas Barrera
Production Assistant: Edwin Allin Guardia
Sound mix: Thomas Noël
Sound editing: Jeremy Bocquet, Thomas Noël
Voice over: Leopolda Rojas, Eliseo Pino Chaverra
Assistant Director: Camilo Andrés García Pulido
Color Correction: Virgil Leclercq

Festivals

  • Director’s Fortnight, France (9 – 19 May, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Olhar de Cinema – Curitiba International Film Festival, Brazil (6 – 14 June. 2018)
    Shorts Competition
  • Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad, Norway (13 – 17 June, 2018)
    International Short Film Competition
  • Valencia International Film Festival Cinema Jove, Spain (22 – 29 June, 2018)
    Short Film Competition
  • Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico (20 – 29 July, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Kinemastik International Short Film Festival, Malta (27 – 29 July, 2018)
    Neck of the Woods
  • Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Kosovo (3 – 11 August, 2018)
    Short Dox Competition
  • Incinerante Fest, Colombia (21 – 25 August, 2018)
    Short Film Section
  • Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival, Brazil (22 August – 2 September, 2018)
    Focus: Quinzaine des Realisateurs
  • Silhouette Film Festival, France (24 August – 1 September, 2018)
    Official Selection Won: Youth Jury Award
  • DC Shorts Film Festival, United States (7 – 17 September, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • El Gouna Film Festival, Egypt (20 – 28 September, 2018)
    Short Film Competition Won: Gold Star for Best Short Film
  • Biarritz International Festival of Latin American Cinema, France (24 – 30 September, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Reykjavík International Film Festival, Iceland (27 September – 7 October, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Milano Film Festival, Italy (28 September – 7 October, 2018)
    Internatonal Short Film Competition
  • Timishort Film Festival, Romania (3 – 7 October, 2018)
    Videorama Competition Special Mention
  • Festival Internationale Signes de Nuit, France (4 – 14 October, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Indiecork, Ireland (7 – 14 October, 2018)
    International Competition
  • Film Fest Gent, Belgium (9 – 19 October, 2018)
    European Short Film Competition
  • Colombian Film Panorama, France (10 – 16 October, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Chicago International Film Festival, United States (10 – 21 October, 2018)
    Documentary Short Film Competition
  • Astra Film Festival, Romania (15 – 21 October, 2018)
    Short Film Competition
  • Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden (22 – 28 October, 2018)
    Out of competition: Dokurama – The Shadow Line
  • Curta Cinema – Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, Brazil (24 – 31 October, 2018)
    International Competition
  • International Bosphorus Film Festival, Turkey (26 October – 3 November, 2018)
    International Short Film Competition
  • DOK Leipzig – International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, Germany (29 October – 4 November, 2018)
    International Program
  • Denver Film Festival, United States (31 October – 11 November, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Tirana International Film Festival, Albania (2 – 9 November, 2018)
    International Short Documentary Competition
  • Montreal International Documentary Festival, Canada (8 – 18 November, 2018)
    International Short and Medium-Length Competition
  • Villa De Leyva`s International Film Festival, Colombia (9 – 12 November, 2018)
    Documentary Room
  • Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Germany (13 – 18 November, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Panorama Internacional Coisa de Cinema, Brazil (14 – 21 November, 2018)
    International Competition
  • International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Netherlands (14 – 25 November, 2018)
    Short Documentary Competition
  • NDU International Film Festival, Lebanon (25 November – 2 December, 2018)
    Official Competition
  • Pravo Ljudski Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina (28 November – 3 December, 2018)
    Shorts Program
  • Cinéma DiVa Film Festival, Canada (29 November – 7 December, 2018)
  • Verín International Short Film Festival, Spain (1 – 10 December, 2018)
    Official Selection
  • Leuven International Short Film Festival, Belgium (1 – 8 December, 2018)
    Flemish Documentary Competition Won: Best Flemish Documentary
  • Bogoshorts – Bogotá Short Film Festival, Colombia (4 – 11 December, 2018)
    National Competition Won: Best Poster, Best Original Music & Best Short Documentary
  • Zubroffka – International Short Film Festival, Poland (5 – 9 December, 2018)
    World Wide Shorts Competition
  • Cinéma DiVa Film Festival, Mexico (13 – 16 December, 2018)
  • Internationale Festival Zeichen der Nacht, Germany (18 – 20 January, 2019)
    Official Selection
  • Minimalen Short Film Festival, Norway (22 – 27 January, 2019)
    International Competition Honorable Mention
  • Prague Short Film Festival, Czech Republic (23 – 27 January, 2018)
    Quinzaine des Réalisateurs retrospective
  • Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, France (1 – 9 February, 2019)
    Labo Competition
  • Film Fest Sundsvall, Sweden (13 – 17 March, 2019)
    International Short Doc Competition
  • Glasgow Short Film Festival, United Kingdom (13 – 17 March, 2019)
    International Competition
  • Colombian Film Festival Berlin, Germany (14 – 17 March, 2019)
    Bogoshorts Special
  • Malaga Film Festival, Spain (15 – 24 March, 2019)
    Official Short Documentary Competition
  • Akbank Short Film Festival, Turkey (18 – 28 March, 2019)
    Out of Competition: Perspective
  • International Documentary Film Festival Millenium, Belgium (22 – 30 March, 2019)
    Short Film Competition
  • Ojoloco Film Festival of Grenoble, France (27 March – 7 April, 2019)
    Short Film Competition
  • Mecal Pro, Barcelona International Short and Animation Festival, Spain (28 March – 14 April, 2019)
    Documentary Competition
  • Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen, the Netherlands (3 – 7 April, 2019)
    European Competition
  • DOKer – Moscow International Documentary Film Festival, Russia (3 – 8 April, 2019)
    Short Competition
  • Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, United States (4 – 7 April, 2019)
    New Docs
  • San Sebastian International Human Rights Film Festival, Spain (5 – 12 April, 2019)
    Short Film Competition
  • ACT Human Rights Film Festival, United States (5 – 13 April, 2019)
    Official Selection
  • Festival Vues sur Mer, Canada (11 – 14 April, 2019)
    Official Selection
  • International Film Festival Of Uruguay, Uruguay (17 – 27 April, 2019)
    Official Selection
  • MOOOV Film Festival, Belgium (23 April – 5 May, 2019)
    Short Film Competition Special Mention
  • Brussels Short Film Festival, Belgium (25 April – 5 May, 2019)
    Out-of-Competition: Selection of Biarritz Film Festival
  • Braziers Mini Indi Film Festival, United Kingdom (24 – 27 May, 2019)
    Official Selection
  • VIS Vienna Shorts, Austria (28 May – 2 June, 2019)
    Fiction & Documentary Competition
  • Mostra Curta Audiovisual de Campinas,Brazil (30 May – 15 June, 2019)
    Official Selection
  • Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival, United Kingdom (4 – 13 June, 2019)
    Animistic Apparatus
  • Ontis International Festival, France (20 – 24 June, 2019)
    European Short Film Competition
  • FEST — New Directors | New Films Festival, Portugal (24 June – 1 July, 2019)
    Documentary Competition
  • ShorTS International Film Festival, Italy (28 June – 6 July, 2019)
    Maremetraggio Section
  • La Guarimba International Film Festival, Italy (7 – 11 August, 2019)
    Documentary Competition
  • MakeDox Creative Documentary Film Festival, Macedonia (21 – 28 August, 2019)
    Short Film Competition Won: The Sliced Onion for Best Short Film
  • Lofoten International Arts Festival, Norway (30 August – 29 September, 2019)
    Special program: Thinking Tide, Sensing Scale
  • FIKE – Évora International Short Film Festival, Portugal (10 – 15 September, 2019)
    Competition
  • Lateinamerikanischen Tage, Germany (October, 2019)
    Out-of-competition: Nosotras
  • Tacoma Film Festival, United States (3 – 10 October, 2019)
    Competition Won: Best Cinematography – Documentary Short
  • PLONS! International Short Documentary Film Festival Leeuwarden, the Netherlands (4 – 6 October, 2019)
    Competition
  • Festival Du Nouveau Cinéma, Canada (9 – 20 October, 2019)
    Colombian Focus
  • RIGA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Latvia (17 – 27 October, 2019)
    Short Riga – Festival Darlings
  • Eindhoven Film Festival, Netherlands (28 November – 1 December, 2019)
    Official Selection
  • Muestra Internacional Documental De Bogotá, Colombia (29 October – 7 November, 2019)
    Competition
  • Beijing International Short Film Festival, China (29 November – 9 December, 2019)
    Short Documentary Competition
  • ZUBROFFKA  International Short Film Festival, Poland (4 – 8 December, 2019)
    Out of competition: Magical stories for dealing with trauma
  • Curta Brasilia- International Film Festival, Brazil (12 – 15 December, 2019)
    International Non-competitive section

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