Our Song to War
Crocodile-men, a mystic river, children who like fishing and a war that is coming to an end all share the same place in Colombia, Bojaya. Here, villagers have strange beliefs and celebrate the "Novenario" death ritual.
This might be the beginning of a very long story, where spirits and people meet to learn what there is to life after the war is over.
- Belgium, Colombia
- 2018, 14 min
- Director: Juanita Onzaga
- Director of photography: Juanita Onzaga
- Editor: Juanita Onzaga
- Screenplay: Juanita Onzaga
- Music: Las Musas de Pogue
- Cast: Leopolda Rojas (voiceover)
- Coproduction: De Chinezen
- Production: RANA Films
Juanita Onzaga
Juanita Onzaga is a Colombian-Belgian film director and cinematographer. She studied cinema in Brussels, earning a bachelor's degree in Direction of Photography from IAD and a master's in Film Direction from Sint-Lukas Brussel. Her short film The Jungle Knows You Better Than You Do won the International Jury Award for best short film in the Generation 14plus section at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, the highly acclaimed VAF Wildcard, and other prizes. Our Song to War was selected for the 50th Directors' Fortnight at the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival. Juanita is currently developing her first feature film, The Landscapes That You Seek, at the Torino Script Lab. In her work she plays with hybrid forms mixing fiction, documentary, and experimental film, exploring the importance of memory, death, and the imagination, and creating tales that reflect different ways of perceiving reality within strong political contexts.