Soñé su nombre
I Dreamed His Name
Ángela Carabalí
Traces give rise to actions – a photograph among grains of rice, a faint silhouette over the field, and a dream. In this dream, Ángela hears her father calling her. A call that stirs the past and connects her to the present lives of two sisters. They decide to search for their father, who was abducted in Colombia many years ago. Where the »Desaparecidos« – South America’s »disappeared« people – have left behind gaping holes and suffering, the two women embark again on a new search. Throughout, the cinematography finds new ways to take us on a journey that becomes an act of healing. Through the images of Ángela and Juliana Carabalí, the loss of a father is placed in the broader context of colonialism, offering us the chance to transform the shadows of the past. Rather than dwelling on their wounds, they constantly seek dialogue and movement; their path becomes a collective way out, an escape from a powerlessness that has grown over time. Through conversations with other activist farmers, their perspectives and connections to the history of the indigenous land become clear. Where social conflicts follow armed agricultural struggles, the tangle of memories becomes a puzzle. And only acceptance can solve it: answers will never mark the end of a search. But ongoing dialogue and the power of cinema can help us view personal destinies through different eyes.
Guest: Juliana Carabalí
German premiere
Awards for »I Dreamed His Name«
Hot Docs – Special Mention Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary
Ángela Carabalí
Ángela Carabalí is an Afro-Colombian documentary filmmaker with two Master’s degrees: in Documentary Film and in Documentary Photography. She is a founding partner of Carabalí Films & New Media, a company that focuses on social and ethnic issues as well as transmedia narratives. She is the director, screenwriter and co-producer of the interactive documentary Criers of Medellín (Dok Leipzig, MIT Docubase) as well as a fellow of the Sundance Institute, of Firelight Media and of the Solutions Storytelling Project: Latin America. I Dreamed His Name is her first feature.