Film Industry in Colombia . Between the naive optimism and the chronic pessimism

Abstract

Cultural industry is a key line in capitalist economies; it contributes to the gross domestic product of developing countries, training of qualified human resources, national identities configuration of cultural consumption, and construction of criticism sense in audience. The whole group of developed countries, with less than 30 % of world’s population, concentrates 87% of the cinemas and 54% of existing radio stations; on the opposite of developing countries, with over 70% of the population, but they only count with 13% of cinemas and 46% of radio stations. Therefore it is pertinent to question the possibilities of Latin America, particularly Colombia, in making effective part of a market for goods and service, especially films, in the cultural industry in the era of globalization.

From an optimistic view, film production in Colombia has risen from the 200 Film Law. Different productions (short films and feature films) have caught the eye of local audience, as was the case of “Soñar no cuesta nada” by Rodrigo Triana or “El colombian dream” by Felipe Aljure,” Perder es cuestion de metodo” by Sergio Cabrera and “La sombra de caminante” by Ciro Guerra. Significant issues to resolve such as internationalization, training of screenwriters, audience education, and financial support for movie makers still remain.