ABC Colombia

An intimate portrait of a small rural community in a part of Colombia entirely controlled by paramilitary forces, rendered through the eyes of the children who grow up there.

Along the Don Diego river, one of the many rivers that descend from the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, there is a small building of white cement, on whose walls the children have drawn the flora and fauna of the region.

This is the school class of the children of the "campesinos" of the area. A single elementary class that gathers 25 children between 5 and 15 years old, the age at which school ends around here.

But not all children finish it. Many at that age have already begun to work as "raspachines" – coca-leaf pickers – or to patrol the mountains as part of the paramilitary, to protect the area – in which there are enormous stretches of coca plantation – from infiltration by guerrillas or the army.

The documentary follows the young protagonists in this problematic setting through an entire school year, exploring some of the realities that nurture and perpetuate the violence in Colombia.

http://www.abccolombia.gaea.it/

Director: Enrica Colusso