OUR FOREST MOON
Nuestro Monte Luna
Canada/Colombia, 2015
Spanish with English subtitles/ 96′
Director/Writer: Pablo Alvarez-Mesa
Rated for youth / PG
Sat-Aug 27
4:45 PM | The Cinematheque
Beyond the eastern hills of Bogota lies the rural town of Choachi, where a group of at-risk youth are immersed in a subculture dedicated to old-world notions of honour: the life of the Matador. The deadly risks faced by these teenaged matadors-in-training are overshadowed by the threats to their future when the controversial sport of bullfighting is challenged by Bogota’s mayor Gustavo Petro, who has tapped into the groundswell of Colombians who want to reject symbols of their colonial past and see bullfighting as an emblem of the violence that has been accepted by their society for far too long. In a poetic, cinema verité style, this multi-faceted documentary brings us into the intimate world of this group of teenage boys and their poignant struggles to bring purpose to their lives through a centuries-old tradition that is rapidly fading away.
“What makes Nuestro Monte Luna so mesmerizing is that Alvarez-Mesa leaves it up to the viewer to decide for themselves how they feel about the art of bullfighting.” Courtney Small, Cinema Axis
A través de gestos cotidianos, sonidos, imágenes y rituales, una cámara íntima interpreta las corridas de toros como una metáfora de la vida para la lucha personal, histórica y cultural de un grupo de matadores. Observando a estos estudiantes en sus rutinas diarias, Nuestro Monte Luna fija su mirada en la gran imagen a través de sus pequeños detalles, capturando una cultura en transición y una tradición centenaria en la cúspide de la desaparición.
ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Producers: Sarah Spring, Selin Murat
Cinematographer: Pablo Alvarez-Mesa
Editor: Pablo Alvarez-Mesa
Pablo Alvarez-Mesa (Medellin, Colombia) studied Film Production at Concordia University in Montreal. His documentary short Jelena’s Song (2010) was awarded the Pierre and Yolanda Perrault award for Best First Film at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois. His films all touch on issues of displacement, history and collective memory. Our Forest Moon premiered at Hot Docs in 2015.