Filming in Disaccord: Dissent, Ruin, Affection and Memory in Luis Ospina's documentary Todo empezó por el fin

Abstract

Going against the grain of the “post-conflict” cinema and documentary sponsored by administrative institutions and mainstream media since the start of the peace process between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla, Todo comenzó por el fin (2015), the last of Luis Ospina’s works,  emerges as an outstanding example of the so-called “dissent documentary." In this film, Ospina refrains from granting actors and products of violence the main roles that are customary for them in Colombian storytelling, focusing rather on the documentary affect generated by the stories of individual and group bodies when faced with illness and death. With this ethic and esthetic decision of breaking from the public debates that emerge from the peace negotiations, Ospina’s documentary opens alternative reflective spaces to approach the complex realities of this historical period.