strangers to peace
After 52 years of brutal civil conflict, 10,000 FARC guerrillas prepare to reintegrate into civil society —
but will Colombia accept them? Strangers to Peace intimately captures the stories of three ex-FARC
combatants as they reflect on their past and take their first steps toward an uncertain future.
P r o j e c t To p i c
The FARC (the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia,
(“Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia”) is a guerrilla army
consisting mostly of rural peasants, as many as a third conscripted as children. Created in 1964 as the military wing of the
Colombian Communist Party. its goal is simple — to overthrow a
government that favors the rights of the landowning elite over
those of the working class. Operating from bases in Colombia’s
impenetrable jungle, the FARC ambush military patrols, raid
police stations, and bomb public infrastructure. Starting in the
1970s, the guerillas become infamous for funding their operations with profits from the cocaine trade and kidnappings. The
conflict quickly becomes the bloodiest in the Western hemisphere, claiming 220,000 lives and displacing millions.
Then, after decades of violence, a breakthrough occurs: on
August 28, 2016, Colombian President Santos and FARC leader
Timochenko reach a peace settlement. Many Colombians, however, are not ready to accept the terms of peace, which includes
the reintegration of thousands of FARC guerrillas into Colombian
society, and on October 2nd the “No” vote carries a referendum.
But all is not lost, as the settlement is promptly revived and
controversially approved by parliament. For many of the 10,000
guerrillas still fighting in the Colombian jungles, demobilization
means leaving the only life they’ve ever known.
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Strangers to Peace chronicles the lives of a group of current and
former FARC fighters over the course of a year as they attempt to
assimilate into a post-conflict Colombia following a historic
peace deal. For many, it is their first time leaving the jungle and
reuniting with their families. They’re caught in a conflict larger
than themselves, their decisions having irrevocably altered the
course of their lives. This is the story of an impressionable youth
reclaiming his life after the FARC to become a teacher; a middle-aged activist who, after escaping the war, is still mesmerized
by the jungle’s siren call; and a former child soldier now starting
a family while searching for her sister still fighting among the
rebels — all strangers to peace.
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Story Summary
After five decades of brutal civil war, a referendum is widely
expected to end the conflict between the FARC and the Colombian government. Politics, however, is never easy. Colombia is
sharply divided on whether to reconcile with the guerrillas, and
former president Álvaro Uribe vehemently opposes the peace
deal as too lenient towards the “narco terrorists.” His “No”
campaign gain popular support, and a debate grips the nation
from the streets of Bogotá to the rural communities most
affected by the conflict.
He was conscripted into the FARC at the age of 14 by his high
school teacher, an embedded FARC operative, and spent the
next six years as a clandestine recruiter, enlisting impressionable
youths. Ricardo also fought in the jungle, but an assassination
attempt from his own comrades, jealous of his success, disillusioned him to the cause. After disavowing the FARC, Ricardo returns
to Bogotá with dreams of becoming a teacher. But regret for
estranging his mother gnaws at him, as well as the sadness felt by
all mothers affected by the conflict. Is his family life beyond
repair?
For ex-combatants Diana, Ricardo, and Boris, reintegration has
been difficult, and the “No” campaign’s rhetoric cuts deep. They
feel misunderstood and stigmatized. Can they be accepted back
into society when one out of every two Colombians voted against
their reintegration?
Ricardo, 26, anxiously awaits the outcome of the referendum.
Ricardo grew up in southern Bogotá — the wrong side of the
tracks in a city divided by an invisible poverty line.
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Diana, 29, born in a violent rural area, was conscripted into the
FARC at 13, saw her first battle at 14, and fled from her FARC
jungle encampment at 19. For many children, adolescence can
feel like a battlefield; for Diana it literally was one. For the past
eight years, Diana has worked to forge a new life in Bogotá, but
old habits die hard. When a plane passes overhead, Diana finds
herself reaching for the gun no longer by her side. Without an
education or work experience, Diana spent years floating
between odd jobs, her past carefully hidden. Even her fiancé, up
until two months before their wedding, didn’t know about her
guerrilla past. Now, things are looking up for Diana as she nurses
her baby and attends college. But something calls her back to
the jungle — her younger sister, who joined the FARC as a child
conscript and hasn’t laid down her rifle. Diana and her family
embark on a search, but can they locate her sister?
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Boris, 48, took up arms to overthrow a government he considered corrupt and elitist. However, he lost the will to fight after
seeing the corpse of a young girl, about the age of his daughter,
strewn on the battlefield. It was then that he realized that the
FARC was as much a scourge on Colombia as the government he
reviled. Boris now struggles to make a life for himself while trying
to reconnect with the daughter he left behind. He longs for the
beauty of the jungle and the camaraderie of his brothers-in-arms.
Boris never stops championing the Marxist values that inspired
him — but can he stay true to his ideals in a post-conflict Colombia?
This type of access is virtually unprecedented: before the peace
process, most ex-combatants would not talk about their past due
to fear of retribution. Despite the delicate nature of this project,
we have encountered remarkably little resistance, partly because
of the independent nature of our documentary and its humanizing portrayal of the conflict.
Artistic Style
Strangers to Peace interrogates the beliefs of a society torn
apart by violence and ideology through humanizing portrayls of
ex-combatants. Our artistic approach is to put a human face on
the conflict and the demobilization process by following a series
of personal narratives, rather than a political one. The themes of
loss, acceptance, and forgiveness, are emphasized through a
cinema vérité approach. We want the audience to feel like a fly
on the wall and leave with an intimate look into the lives of the
film’s central characters.
Access
We have already enlisted the support of the film’s three main
characters — ex-FARC combatants Ricardo, Boris, and Diana —
with whom we plan to work extensively over the coming months.
We have been invited into their homes, met their families, and
followed them in their daily lives. In addition, we have been
granted rare access by the Colombian government, specifically
through the Agencia Colombiana para la Reintegración (the
agency that handles guerrilla reintegration) to meet ex-FARC
combatants held in secret locations as they await re-integration.
Additionally, we have gained access to high-ranking politicians,
including the former Mayor of Bogota and several senators,
whose perspectives will punctuate the film.
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The film takes cues from such recent documentaries as Rich Hill
(2014) and Cartel Land (2015) that employ striking visuals,
gripping characters, and moments of intense intimacy to
elucidate larger social issues. Our film aims to enrich viewer’s
understanding of a marginalized community through tales of
personal and social redemption.
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Community Engagement
Funding Strategy
The ink on the peace accord is not yet dry, making this story
incredibly topical. Now is the perfect time to bring these stories
of ex-combatants not only to a Colombian audience but an
international audience. Our overarching goal is to play a role in
shifting the discourse away from recrimination and towards
forgiveness and reconciliation. To this end, we have forged
partnerships to share our documentary with several organizations in Colombia, notably the Centro de Memoria, Paz y
Reconciliación (The Center for Memory, Peace, and Reconciliation), which has partnered with us to screen and exhibit the film
to a large audience. Additionally, we are in talks with several
universities, including the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá), to
generate discussion and screen the film. We have also partnered
with the University of Miami, where the film will be screened at
the prestigious Cosford Cinema to engage students, faculty, and
the public. We are also exploring a possible screening in collaboration with the Colombian Consulate in Miami, a city with a large
Colombian population that is deeply divided on the referendum
vote. We plan to accompany one or more screenings with a short
lecture delivered by our Advising Scholar Dr. Elvira Restrepo, a
professor at the University of Miami’s Department of International Studies and Special Advisor to Colombian President Santos
on the peace process.
The producers have already made the initial investment to film
on location in Colombia since mid-2016, including renting film
equipment, conducting research, and subsidizing living expenses. In early 2017 we are launching a private fundraiser and Kickstarter campaign to cover our costs for the next six months of
filming. In addition, we expect to secure grant funding in the
Spring of 2017 from organizations committed to supporting
character-driven documentaries involving marginalized communities, such as:
Submitted:
Upcoming:
Catapult Grant
Sundance Institute Development Grant
Wavemaker Fund
Tribeca Documentary Fund
Goodpitch
The Fledgling Fund
Rogovy Foundation
Project Stage
Research and development began in July of 2016 and we
started shooting in September. Currently, we are about to enter
the primary production phase, which will last approximately six
months as we track our characters: Will a family be reunited after
being separated by war for nearly 20 years? Will a child conscript
be able to forge a life for herself after living as a jungle soldier her
whole adult life? Will a son find forgiveness from his mother after
abandoning his family to take up arms with the guerrillas? With
support, we will wrap production by Summer of 2017 and begin
post-production, with a rough cut complete by Winter of 2017.
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Simultaneously, we are in discussions to strike partnerships
with organizations such as Amnesty International, The Casa de
Memoria, and the Centro de Memoria, Paz, y Reconciliación. We
have also received a generous in-kind donation from the University of Miami for film and editing equipment. Our efforts have also
been recognized by the Sundance Institute, which invited us to
participate in its Documentary Story Development Workshop.
Through Sundance we are receiving mentorship from veteran
documentary filmmakers including Richard Perez and Academy
Award-nominated Catherine Tambini.
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Filmmakers
Producer Colleen O’Brien
Director Noah DeBonis
Colleen studies indigenous languages and cultures in Colombia, focusing on their conservation and revitalization. She has
presented at various linguistics and anthropology conferences,
including the Society for Applied Anthropology and the Conference on Language Endangerment at the University of Cambridge. Colleen is currently completing her dissertation on Camsa, a
language spoken in the Sibundoy Valley of Colombia. At the
same time, she is researching the historic peace process in
Colombia as an anthropologist. Colleen is a PhD student in
Linguistics at the University of Hawai'i and holds degrees in
Classics and Anthropology from the University of Miami.
Noah is a narrative and documentary filmmaker whose projects
have taken him from the wastelands of Chernobyl to military
bases in Japan and the streets of Bogotá. His current project,
Strangers to Peace, was selected in 2016 for the Sundance
Institute’s Documentary Film Program Story Development
Workshop. His short film Posthumous won a College Emmy
Award, was licensed by Virgin Airlines in-flight entertainment,
and has been screened and won awards at numerous film
festivals. Noah is also an Associate Producer for CNBC’s series
Billion Dollar Buyer. Additionally, he has produced, edited, or
directed programming for CBS, WWE, PIVOT TV, PBS, and the
Smithsonian. Noah received his MFA in Film Production from the
University of Miami.
Th i s fi l m i s s u p p o r t e d b y t h e f o l l o w i n g o r g a n i z a t i o n s :
To l e a r n m o r e :
w w w . S t r a n g e r s To P e a c e . c o m
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