The movie Mujeres al frente (Women at the front) is about women´s involvement with the peace process in Colombia. It is based on seven interviews with seven extraordinary Colombian women: Patricia Guerrero, Luz Marina Bernal, Vera Grabe, Luz Marina Becerrra, Beatriz Montoya, Nelly Velandia and Mayerlis Ingrate.

Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Lula Gómez

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

I shot it in on 2015th June, at Bogotá, and the movie was finished by 2016. The premiere was at the Malaga International Film Festival (Spain),

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

Why should I watch this film? Because it's a new story. The history has not been counted with women leading a peace process. Women did not have a role reconstructing their countries. The documentary gives voice to seven women involved at the peace process with innovative strategies.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

The movie is based on the seven interviews taken. The script is clear: they are playing an important role and society ignores their work.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

The film is very appreciative within the Colombian society who voted "YES" to the peace process. It has been also recognized by human rights activists and the feminist movement.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

I would like to have all of them. I am really proud when teenagers come to a screening, the movie makes them think about how to resolve a conflict in a peaceful way. If buyers, distributors could be interested, it would be great: I believe the more exposure these seven women have, the more we all could learn about peace and solidarity.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Why did the world keep women away form the peace process?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I am writing a script about an unknown Spanish music and, at the same time, writing a story about women, literature and prisons.

Interview: October 2017

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Women at the front

The movie Mujeres al frente (Women at the front) is about women´s involvement with peace process in Colombia. It is based on the seven interviews with seven extraordinary colombian women: Patricia Guerrero, Luz Marina Bernal, Vera Grabe, Luz Marina Becerrra, Beatriz Montoya, Nelly Velandia and Mayerlis Ingrate.

Synopsis

Sick of a society that kills them, they decided to build an alternative reality from scratch, from the foundations up, from a perspective where violence is not the dictating rule over their lives and where the principle of the survival of the fittest no longer prevails.

They believe in peace because they cannot tolerate any more war; they believe in dialogue and in consensus and propose new structures of life. They repeat that the patriarchy, the established system, silences and annihilates them.

Sick of so much bloodshed, they decided to set up women’s cities, lay down their arms (those who had taken them up), confront the State and make demands in memory of their dead. They also want a new system that recognises rights as basic as those concerning their land or food sovereignty. All of this is what makes them transgressive: they outline a new Colombia, a new fairer and more egalitarian society, a place that must be rebuilt from zero to allow peace to be felt. They demand justice, reparation and a future.

The stance they take has even cost them their lives: they are against the established way. They reject the preservation of the status quo, inequality and further killing. They know – because they have first-hand experience – that violence generates further violence.

Length: 47 minutes

Director: Lula Gómez

Producer: Lula Gómez

Writer: Lula Gómez

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lula.gomez

Twitter: @lulagomez

Web page: www.lulaink.com

Recognitions: The documentary Mujeres al frente produced and sponsored by UNWomen Colombia was presented at Málaga (Spain) within this International Cinema Festival, where it was a finalist among the other documentaries and have won several recognitions (special mention at Bogocine, Festival Internacional de Cine de Bogotá) and Fugasagusa First Award (Colombia).

Funders: NU Women and Oxfam Intermon