Part of the Real Utopias Film Program, curated by Konstantia Kontaxis. Real Utopias is part of the series A City of the People, organized by MOAD and curated by Rina Carvajal, MOAD’s Executive Director and Chief Curator.
(2016), 80 minutes, Directed by Emiliano Mazza De Luca
The documentary feature Nueva Venecia portrays the inhabitants of a small village in the Santa Marta marsh in Colombia, who live on the water and make a living by fishing. Their lives changed drastically on November 22, 2000, when a paramilitary group slaughtered thirty-seven people and forced the other villagers to move out. In spite of the horror and the possibility of further acts of violence, the community eventually returned, choosing to face the hazards of new assaults rather than quit their way of life. Something else keeps people together: soccer, played again on the field built on stilts, long hidden under water. Sport provides the only hope for a way out for many of the local youngsters, who dream of both social and economic improvement.