By Daniel de la Calle
Our documentary will be showing today at the MALOKA center in downtown Bogotá. The screening begins at 5PM and the organizers have promised a very full house, so if you happen to be here, or live here, in this huge capital of Colombia, make sure to come at least a half hour ahead to grab a seat. We will also have an after screening q&a and debate afterwards.
Maloka is a futuristic looking science center with a 3D theater and an underground greenhouse. It was conceived as an interactive educational center for kids, so the square you see in the picture was filled up with playful and loud kids in different colored uniforms yesterday afternoon.
I have only been here for 30 hours, but the impression I have had from Bogotá so far is quite different. It seems to be a mega city in the process of spreading further down the plateau (around 7 million inhabitants now) caught in the middle of some gigantic rebuild and restoration process. Buildings, streets, avenues, gardens, it all looks under construction for various reasons, so it is pure chaos and dust that patient locals endure by putting their hopes a few years from now, when it might all have been worth it. Fortunately, I am staying at the traditional Candelaria neighborhood, and here things look neither like futuristic domes and glass boxes nor like open mine fields; it is a trip back in time, to Spanish colonial times, with low houses that hide inner patios and courtyards. A mix of foreigners, bohemian locals and wealthy visionaries make it an exciting and lively place (with a slight edge at nighttime, I must add).
A picture from the doorstep of my “home”, looking down into the valley.
Tomorrow we have an exciting screening in Cartagena de Indias. More info about it later.
