Private Project

Balanta

Balanta is the last name of three elder siblings Diego, Marta and Emeterio who have made afro-colombian traditional music together throughout their lifes. The film takes us on a trip into their lifes.

  • Gregor Kuhlmann
    Director
  • Fernanda Piñeda
    Director
  • Gregor Kuhlmann
    Producer
  • Fernanda Piñeda
    Producer
  • Erika Rippe
    Producer
  • Marta Balanta
    Key Cast
  • Diego Balanta
    Key Cast
  • Emeterio Balanta
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 1, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    40,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Colombia
  • Country of Filming:
    Colombia
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:2.35
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Colombian Film Festival New York
    New York
    United States
  • International Film Festival in Linarense
    Linarse
    Colombia
  • Miradas Medellín - Film and Audiovisual Arts Festival
    Medellín
    Colombia
  • Das Internationale Kurzfilmfestival von Cali
    Cali
    Colombia
  • Bogota International Documentary Film Festival
    Bogotá
    Colombia
  • Festival de Cine Corto de Popayán
    Popayán
    Colombia
  • Quibdo Africa Film Festival
    Quibdo
    Colombia
    Best Short Documentary
  • Atlantic International Film Festival
    Barranquilla
    Colombia
    Best Short Documentary
  • Film Festival de las Montañas
    Manizales
    Colombia
    Best Short Documentary
Director Biography - Gregor Kuhlmann, Fernanda Piñeda

Gregor Kuhlmann:
Gregor bought his first digital photo camera at the age of 16. Ever since then he had a love for visual story telling. From photography he moved to cinematography within the years. At the age of 21 he started studying Social Sciences. During his studies he worked on several film sets as production assistant and producer. He also started working as a commercial cinematographer. Whilst collecting experiences in several fields of filmmaking he always kept a self teaching attitude with the goal of telling strong entertaining stories with a compelling cinematic look and feel. In 2016 he co-founded the production company and Directors Collective Locolor. Since then among commercial projects he has produced a feature film, DOPed in several documentaries and directed music videos, commercial short docs, a short film and the short doc Balanta.

Fernanda Pineda:
Audiovisual Director, Photographer and producer with more than 9 years of experience in work documentaries and photojournalism.
Currently founding partner and Creative Director of the production company PÁRAMO FILMS since 2017. Fellow of the IWMF ADELANTE COLOMBIA journalistic investigation program - International Women MediaFoundation. Fellow with the Ibermedia scholarship for the Filma Afro Colombia 2020 laboratory.
She currently collaborates for The Washington Post and other international media from Colombia. Insta: @fernipineda

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Director Statement

On the Pacific coast of Colombia live almost exclusively afro-colombian people. They are descendants of former slaves who were brought to Colombia. Their roots go back to Africa. To express these roots in their culture they make traditional music. But the music is much more than just identity-forming. It spreads a good mood, it welds together and it makes life worth living in difficult circumstances. This also applies to the three Balanta siblings Martha, Diego and Emeterio. For them, music is life - even if they cannot live from their music. For us as directors it was important to not just go there and point the camera at them in order to show their culture. We wanted to present the Balanta siblings as modern heros of the african diaspora in Colombia. In usual documentaric work the camera is just pointed as an objective observer on the people and their culture. Therefore we often times as spectators get into the perspective of "looking down on them and their small lives". We chose a way of visual storrytelling which is literally looking up on their achievements and their lifestyle. Not judging it by any means but presenting it as somewhat heroic and deeply touching.