DOCSBarcelona Festival
The same philosophy as always: To build a dialogue among film, audience and director. This is how Joan Gonzàlez, DOCSBarcelona director, phrases what he wants the young festival to be, he himself being very much dedicated to the introduction of the documentary genre to a young audience. This is done through the 7-11 section of a festival that otherwise is built with sections: History, Catalan Day, Doc!Doc!Doc! (for new talents who want to enter the international doc community), Le Dernier Repas (films chosen by a film personality, this year the retiring Catalan Cinematheque director Roc Villas), Kids and Teens, X-tra, Panorama and opening/closing ceremony films.
Let me mention one film that has stayed in my mind since the opening of the festival: ”Sins of My Father” by Nicolás Entel. A story told through the eyes of Sebastián Marroquin, the son of Pablo Escobar, public enemy number 1 in Colombia, a drug dealer, who became one of the richest men in the world – in an interview with the son, he is called the most notorious and brutal drug lord in the history of Colombia. Marroquin is here in Barcelona, a mild and generous man, who has had the courage to go and ask for forgiveness to the sons of prominent politicians, who were all killed by his father. The film follows that story, the process of reconciliation, as well as it is describing the life of the father, who controlled everything and made things that goes beyond any gangsterfilm ever made. At some times during the film what is being told is totally surrealistic! Escobar was (to use the phrase from The Guardian, see link below) gunned down in 1993.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/08/pablo-escobar-son-drugs-victims
