El Amparo (film)

El Amparo
Film poster
Directed byRober Calzadilla
Written byKarin Valencillo
Produced byMarinella Illas
StarringGiovanny García
Vicente Quintero
Samantha Castillo
Vicente Peña
Rossana Hernández
Release dates
  • September 15, 2016 (2016-09-15) (AFI Latin American Film Festival)
  • November 28, 2019 (2019-11-28)
Running time
99 minutes
CountriesColombia
Venezuela
LanguageSpanish

El Amparo is a 2016 film directed by Rober Calzadilla and coproduced between Colombia and Venezuela.[1] The film is set in El Amparo, a Venezuelan location on the shores of Arauca River, in the Colombian border,[2] based in the 1988 Massacre of El Amparo, where the Venezuelan army killed several fishermen, accusing them of being Colombian guerillas.[3][4]

The film premiered as the opening film of the 2016 AFI Latin American Film Festival.[5] It was screened at Colombian theaters on 28 November 2019.

The film was Venezuela's candidate for the Goya Award for Best Iberoamerican Film in 2018.[6]

Plot

In El Amparo, in the Venezuelan border location with Colombia, two men survive an armed attack perpetrated in the Arauca River, where fourteen of their colleagues were killed. The army accuses them of being Colombian guerrillas, intimidates them and tries to take them away from their cell where they are guarded by a local policeman and the locals, who desperately try to prevent them from being taken away. The men say that they are simple fishermen, but the pressure for them to yield to the official version is overwhelming.[7]

Cast

Reception

El Amparo was awarded with the Best Film and Best Screenplay São Paulo International Film Festival, the Audience Award in the Bogotá, Milan and Biarritz film festivals and the Best Film Award in the Venezuela and Marseilles festivals.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Campaña de solidaridad para Rober Calzadilla, director de 'El Amparo'". Programa Ibermedia (in Spanish). 4 March 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Cine Colombiano: El Amparo". Proimágenes Colombia (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  3. ^ "El Amparo, de Rober Calzadilla: contra el olvido". El Tiempo. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Rober Calzadilla: "En mi primer recuerdo de El Amparo yo vi personas, y esta película va de personas, no de personajes"". Programa Ibermedia. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  5. ^ Kay, Jeremy (1 September 2016). "'El Amparo', 'Rolling Stones' bookend AFI Latin American Film Festival". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  6. ^ "El amparo » Premios Goya 2021". Premios Goya. Archived from the original on 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  7. ^ "El amparo (2016)". Filmaffinity (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-03.