The remnants of the armed conflict: the body in/after violence in contemporary Colombian cinema

Contemporary Colombian cinema powerfully addresses 52 years of war between the nation’s leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary forces, and military. The films in my project, produced since 2010 by filmmakers who experienced the conflict, (re)present assassinations, disappearances, kidnappings, and torture. They depict the fragmentation of bodies, the destruction of families, and the millions of people displaced by the war as well as the assaults and abuses endured by the most vulnerable groups, such as Afro-Colombians, women, and children. My research relies on theorists who explore viewers’ haptic experience (living in/through/as a body) and the silences and absences of trauma, race, gender, and physical disability, such as Jennifer Barker, Cathy Caruth, Aníbal Quijano, and Judith Butler. Chapter 1 evaluates the effects of violence in rural areas, the victimization of children, the use of empathy, and the traumatic events related to displacement through the study of the animated documentary Pequeñas voces (2010; dir. Jairo Carrillo). In chapter 2, I study sexual violence through the literal and metaphorical use of silence in the films Alias María (2015; dir. José Luis Rugeles) and Oscuro animal (2016; dir. Felipe Guerrero). Finally, I read La Playa D.C. (2012; dir. Juan Andrés Arango) as a map that records, writes, exhibits, and exposes possible avenues for Afro-Colombians after displacement and the underlying causes and effects of a traumatic experience. By analyzing a variety of film techniques, genres, and approaches, such as animation, silence, sound and music, I discuss the impact of film on fostering acceptance and a sense of community in its spectators, illustrating the difficult, long, and almost impossible task of achieving peace in Colombia.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference