LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO
(THE WIND JOURNEYS)
Colombia | 2009 | 117min.
Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Ciro Guerra
For most of his life, Ignacio Carrillo traveled the villages of northern Colombia playing traditional songs on his accordion - a legendary instrument said to have once belonged to the devil. He eventually married and settled in a small town, leaving the nomadic life behind. But after the traumatic death of his wife, he vows never to play the accursed accordion again, and embarks on one last journey to return the instrument to its rightful owner. On the way, Ignacio is followed by Fermín, a spirited teenager determined to become his apprentice. Tired of loneliness, Ignacio accepts the young man as a pupil and together they traverse the vast Colombian terrain, discovering the musical diversity of Caribbean culture. Hardened by a life of solitude, Ignacio tries to discourage Fermín from following in his footsteps, but destiny has different plans for them.
Ciro Guerra was born in Rio de Oro, Colombia in 1981 and studied Film and Television at the National University of Colombia. At the age of 20, after directing four multi-award winning short films, he wrote, produced and directed La Sombra del Caminante (The Wandering Shadows), his feature directorial debut, which won awards at the San Sebastian, Toulouse, Mar del Plata, Trieste, Havana, Quito, Cartagena, Santiago and Warsaw Film Festivals. He was selected for 32 more, including Tribeca, Seoul, Pesaro, Seattle, Hamburg, Kolkata, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Guadalajara, and Troia, earning him worldwide acclaim. Los Viajes del Viento is Guerra’s second feature length-film, which won best film at the Bogota and Cartagena Film Festivals, and it was the first Colombian film in eleven years in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.