Originally from Colombia, I am an audiovisual communicator passionate about documentary filmmaking. Interested in the social and cultural aspects of the African Diaspora in South America, I made my first documentary in 2005. Welcome a Tumaco is a short, independent production about an unknown Afro Carnival that takes place on a small island of Colombia’s Pacific Coast. It examines a controversial debate concerning the place of traditional and modern music in the community, concluding that music provides social cohesion regardless of its genre. Welcome a Tumaco won the award for Best Documentary Film at the CineCun Festival in 2005 and New Creators category at the Cartagena Film Festival in 2006. It has been selected for festivals in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium and France and has been broadcast on Colombian National Television.
Over the last six years, I have made several institutional and promotional documentaries covering diverse topics. I have also designed workshops for teenagers, directed a public television program for children and managed castings for the Colombian featured films “Satanas”, “La Sangre y la Lluvia” y “La Milagrosa”.
At the end of 2007, I made Celeste, an experimental short film that documents a journey through Bogotá. Always looking up into the sky, Celeste explores well-known locations of the city but offers a different point of view. The documentary won the third place for Best Documentary in the Instinto Bogotá II Competition organized by the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO).
In 2008, I joined El Colectivo, an independent group of visual and plastic artists, historians and philosophers. The group explored the notion of collective memory, the relationship between the arts, social sciences and academics as well as the need to raise and debate issues regarding national history and the present. The objective of the group was to introduce Colombia's collective memory to the public sphere and give new meaning to it.
South Africa was to be another journey but I discovered a musical landscape similar to that of Colombia, prompting the idea of a documentary about music in Cape Town. With Mama Goema, I hope to once again, demonstrate that music can bring people together and be an agent of healing. The world premiere is going to take place in June during the Encounters Film Festival.
Parallel to this project, I’ve been making short videos for different South African artists and cultural events such as the Pan African Space Station. I participated also in My Town Competition, Encounters Documentary Film Festival 2010, with “The Fashion Gap”, a 3-minute piece that won the Public Award.
I’m currently part of a three-month International Artist Residency Programme at the Greatmore Studios in Woodstock, where I am going to be directing a series of workshops on filmmaking for young people and also developing some other projects to be exhibited at the Greatmore Gallery.
Visit http://angelamaraga.blogspot.com/ to view her portfolio.
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