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Poderosa
TYPE: Documentary Feature
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Development
LOGLINE
In Colombia, courageous youth reclaim autonomy of their bodies and identities through education, battling sexual violence, and championing change in this inspiring tale of resilience.
SYNOPSIS
In Barú, Bogotá and Cali, Colombia, where sexual violence is normalized, we will dive into the challenging journey taken on by powerful protagonists who dare to recognize their autonomy and defend sexual rights. They will tell their story through a letter of love and hope for a new future.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
“Poderosa (Powerful)” is a creative documentary that utilizes poetic realism to unveil the layers of humanity in each character from an intimate and delicate place. Through this narrative device, we are able to discover and highlight the nuances of each individual story. In this project, we have expanded our creative practice by exploring new ways of storytelling and connecting more deeply with the experiences of the protagonists. Through a letter of love and hope, we dive into the communal world of the Poderosas and Poderosos, whose lives have been transformed by access to quality sexual education. The audiovisual universe of “Poderosa'' is complex and subtle, as it is inspired by aspects of reflective documentaries, such as “Sans Solei” by Chris Marker. The artistic approach also pulls from the naturalness in which one comes to build a universe in the dialogues and situations as depicted by Tatiana Hueso in her most recent film “The Eco”. This leads us to have a disjointed assembly of images, while also allowing us to be guided in narrative and structure by the sound of choir-like discourse of multiple characters. In their voiceovers these characters will read their letters, sharing their fears, dreams, and vulnerabilities. We are interested in the texture, the bodies, the spaces, the sounds, and we allow ourselves to collect elements that evoke sensations and emotions, to immerse the viewer in the universe of each character and connect, to see themselves reflected in each character. Through a perfect marriage between image and sound we embrace multiple stories that are intertwined creating a deep, intimate, sensory, and transformative perspective of their collective journey. We hope this documentary serves as a call to action, and invites our audience to reflect on the importance of comprehensive sexual education and the impact it can have on people's lives and society as a whole.
KEY CREW
Laura Otálora - Director
Laura Otálora (Bogotá , Colombia, 1989) is a visual anthropologist and documentary filmmaker. For several years she was the coordinator of the Catalan production company CAD Productions, where she carried out various documentary projects for international organizations such as the UN and the World Bank, in Africa, Europe, Asia and America. In 2018 she directed Chef's Diaries: Scotland , her first feature-length documentary, about the renowned restaurant Celler de Can Roca. It was awarded Best Documentary at the Girona International Film Festival and officially selected at several international festivals around the world such as Seattle, Edinburgh and Malaga, among others, and is currently on platforms such as Amazon Prime Video and Filming. In 2021 the series Distill Your World premiered on Amazon Prime Video , in which he wrote the screenplay and directed two episodes. In the same year she also directed the documentary series Vivas, which aired in 2022 on several national television channels. In 2024, the documentary De Colombia pa'l Mundo (From Colombia to the World), which he directed, premiered on HBO Max . She is currently directing her second feature documentary Capitán and the documentary series Impermanentes , which won the Solo Sérieles pitch for Netflix at Ventana Sur in 2023. She is also content director of the Apichatpong Weerasethakul Lab and professor of Documentary Film at the National Film School (ENACC).
Natalia Otéro - Narrative Structure/Screenwriting Consultant
Natalia has a Master's degree in Screenwriting for Film and TV from the Barcelona Film School, specializing in analysis and creation of dramatic structures. She studied Anthropology at the Universidad de los Andes, and Audiovisual Communication and Journalism at the Universidad de la Sabana. She was a professor of Screenwriting at the Universidad de la Sabana, in Bogotá, and of Creative Writing at the Instituto Cervantes, in Brussels. Since 2018, has provided independent Creative Consulting, and has mentored more than fifty writers globally, in the creation of documentary series, fiction films, animations and literary texts. Natalia has a co-authored a book (2016) by Palabra Clave and screenwritten for numerous series: Business of Drugs (2018-Netflix), Nuestra Montaña (2017- RCN), La Puerta de Oro (2017-WinSports), Black Market: Kamikaze Gas Smugglers (2016-Viceland), Tras Escena (2016-Noisey), Miscelánea Latinoamericana (2016-Vice), of the radio soap opera Pazando la Página broadcast (2023-National Radio of Colombia). She was also the content creator of the Spotify Equal Festival (2021), the Barcelona Virtual Reality Market (2018) and the first Boiler Room in Colombia. Her unique capacity to help construct a beautifully woven narrative will be a massive asset to this project.
Mona Kubota-Johnson - Producer
Mona Kubota-Johnson is a freelance Producer for Digital Media and Documentaries, based in New York. After graduating from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in 2020, Mona has worked within the digital media and short-form content spaces, while also developing and producing short and feature documentaries with Honesty Hour. Recent projects include the feature-length documentary, Bridgecyph (Producer, 2024) which will be circulating the film festival circuit throughout this year. Previous work includes Color the Water (Producer, 2021) and BLEX: Black Excellence (Producer, 2021). In her early career, Mona worked as a development and post-production intern at documentary production companies: Hard Working Movies and Isotope Films. Projects included: AKA Jane Roe (FX Network, 2020), Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes (Amazon, 2019) and Us Kids (2019). For Poderosas, Mona has been working as a US-based Producer, alongside the team of Executive Producers from Honesty Hour.
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