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Viva Yurumanguí (ESP)

On the remote Pacific Coast of Colombia, the people of the Yurumanguí palenque are still struggling for liberty hundreds of years after their ancestors fled enslavement. High in the hills along their beloved river, at their unique, ancient Easter celebrations, men wearing carved wooden African style masks defiantly heckle Jesus, a reference to their ancestors’ rejection of the enslavers’ Christianity.

Today’s crisis means that these traditions can no longer stay in the river communities. With their semi-autonomous territory invaded by armed groups, and threatened by external environmental destruction, members of the community qualify to compete in the biggest Afro-Colombian music festival. They perform their traditions on stage to show that their palenque still exists, that they are still holding their territory in spite of everything, and to honour their leaders who have been ‘disappeared’.

  • Emma Christopher
    Director
    They Are We, Hemabu
  • Sergio Leyva Seiglie
    Director
    They Are We, Hemabu
  • Emma Christopher
    Writer
    They Are We, Hemabu
  • Emma Christopher
    Producer
    They Are We, Hemabu
  • Javier Labrador Deulofeu
    Cinematography
    Mountains, Hotel Nueva Isla, They Are We, Casa Blanca, Los Ultimos Frikis,
  • Sergio Leyva Seiglie
    Cinematography
    They Are We, Hemabu
  • Yerson Arroyo Arroyo
    Cinematography
  • María Alejandra Briganti
    Editor
    A Grito Herido, Transition, Kept, Nosotras, Fait Vivir, El Valle sin Sombra
  • Irene Cajias
    Editor
    Eternity, Autoerótica, The Tune of the Wind, The Visitor
  • Isabel Torres Reyes
    Sound Editor
    Despues de Norma, Parable of the Return, La casa del árbol, Mother
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Viva Yurumanguí
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    Colombia
  • Country of Filming:
    Colombia
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Emma Christopher, Sergio Leyva Seiglie

Emma Christopher is a writer, documentary maker and professor of the African diaspora. She is the director, producer and researcher of They Are We, (New York: Icarus Film, 2014) which won six Best Documentary Awards, featured widely in the media, and was chosen as the United Nations’ Remembrance of Slavery film 2015. It has screened in more than 70 countries around the world. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the film and Emma’s work as, ‘an inspiration; a victory over slavery’.
She is the author of four books, many articles, and recipient of several human rights awards for her work. She was recently elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Sergio Leyva Seiglie is a photographer and documentarian. His photographic work explores belongingness, identity, and the interplay between private and public memory.
He was the production manager and photographer on They Are We. The photographs from the documentary became part of the exhibit ‘Victory over Slavery: Haiti and Beyond’ in New York City at the United Nations Headquarters’ Visitor Centre, and part of the UN's International Decade for People of African Descent.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film is, in part, a voyage up the spectacular Yurumanguí River to see the fascinating Easter celebrations of the people who call themselves Yurumanguireños. As Emma is an historian who researches and teaches the African diaspora and its forms of resistance, when we heard about their unique celebrations, we knew we wanted to visit no matter how difficult that might be because of the remoteness and precarious safety of the river. The idea of African style masked figures, manacillos, shouting against an icon of Jesus, representing their ancestors’ resistance to their enslaver’s religion, all the while being deeply Catholic nowadays, is such intriguing syncretism. For this tradition to have survived until today is incredible.

The film soon became much more than this original aim, however. With Easter experienced and recorded, we had the extraordinary privilege (and anguish) of experiencing what came after, a glimpse into their world that few outsiders see. The film came to tell part of their story of survival, of defiance against a world that has never treated them as equals, and of their astonishing courage. It follows them as they decide that some of the manacillo will leave the river to perform at Petronio Álvarez, the biggest African Diaspora festival in Latin America, to show that they are not defeated. They perform to show that they are clinging on to their territory, and to life, despite all the odds.

The film is a small token of our boundless gratitude to, love and admiration for, the people of the Yurumanguí. Viva the Yurumanguí River and those who have safeguarded it for 300 years.