The Vampires of Poverty + REW-FFWD

Agarrando Pueblo
The Vampires of Poverty
Carlos Mayolo/Luis Ospina, Colombia 1977, 28 min., OV with English subtitles

A manifesto-like mockumentary on “misery porn” produced and consumed by the western world. The influential Colombian filmmaker Luis Ospina and his childhood friend Carlos Mayolo act as a film crew working for German TV who chase after poor people, street kids, and hookers in the streets of Cali. A quirky film full of black humour and satire addressing the exploitation of misery in the Global South by the western audiovisual industry.

REW-FFWD
Denis Villeneuve, Canada 1994, 31 min. OV with English subtitles

In his directorial debut short Denis Villeneuve traveled to Jamaica planning to film a travelogue. Instead, he made an experimental documentary about his position as a filmmaker, the cultural shock he experienced, and the people he met. The story about a fictional French-Canadian photojournalist oscillates between psychodrama and documentary: “This human hell is a paradise for photography,” he says at one point.

Lorena Díez A. is an artist and museologist interested in public space, community relations, collective memory, and territorial tensions. She holds master’s degrees in Plastic Arts from Instituto Departamental de Bellas Artes Cali, Museology and Cultural Heritage Management from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and Intercultural Conflict Management from Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin.