The 1960s saw various guerrilla movements across the world. At the beginning of that same decade, in his seminal text Concerning Violence (1961), Frantz Fanon’s argued that violence was a necessary tool for decolonization. His reflection helps to understand the guerrilla movements that took place in Latin America, guided by the vision of freeing people from a neocolonial system. The films in this series were made within the world of the guerrillas and in total secrecy. Each film depicts the guerilla movements’ desire for the recognition of their political struggle and underlines through various visual discourses why violence was considered to be part of the solution. These films can be seen as underground propaganda films.

RIO CHIQUITO
Jean-Pierre Sergent & Bruno Muel | 1965 | 18' | Colombia | ES/FR spoken | EN live voice-over translation

This short documentary film depicts the first known moving images of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ーthe oldest guerrilla organization of the Western hemisphere, founded in 1964 and demobilized in 2017. Made by activists Jean-Pierre Sergent and Bruno Muel while they were living with the guerrillas for a month in the jungle, the documentary reveals the humble origins of a popular armed movement that developed into a huge army fueled by cocaine-trafficking, whose war against the Colombian government and paramilitary groups covered the countryside of Colombia in blood for decades.

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EL SALVADOR, EL PUEBLO VENCERÁ
Diego de la Texera | 1980 | 80' | El Salvador | NL subs

El Salvador, El Pueblo vencera delves into the world of the Farabundo Martí Liberation People's Forces (FMLN). With different kinds of visual resources ー including animation, and theatrical staging ー and an immersive aesthetic style, this film weaves a poignant narrative of the revolutionary history of El Salvador and the pervasive political and social struggles which ultimately culminated in a bloody a civil war spanning two decades that left 75,000 dead and thousands of others still missing.