Lapü

Doris’s dead cousin appears to her in a dream, they used to share much. This vision prompts her to embark upon the most important ritual of the Wayuu, an indigenous group living in Colombia’s Guajira Desert. To ensure that her cousin may rest in peace, Doris must exhume the bones of the deceased and clean them before burying them a second time. With the support of her mother and grandmother, she sets out on a richly sensorial journey that brings her into close contact with the dead and their world.
Together with their protagonist, César Alejandro Jaimes and Juan Pablo Polanco have crafted a debut film full of haunting images and sounds, with a diaphanous aesthetic that gives form to the unseen. The camera glides smoothly and naturally between different worlds and forms of existence, between day and night, moving back and forth from blazing light to all-enveloping darkness. The filmmakers’ gentle gaze combines intimacy and distance at the same time. More than the ritual, they are interested in the faces of its participants, across which flicker suspicion, curiosity and fascination. Just as their own response might be and our own one too. No world is hermetic.
by César Alejandro Jaimes, Juan Pablo Polanco
with Doris Gonzalez Jusayu, Carmen Gonzalez Jusayu
Colombia 2019 Wayuunaiki, Spanish 75’ Colour Documentary form

With

  • Doris Gonzalez Jusayu
  • Carmen Gonzalez Jusayu

Crew

Written and Directed by César Alejandro Jaimes, Juan Pablo Polanco
Cinematography Angello Faccini
Editing César Alejandro Jaimes, Juan Pablo Polanco
Sound Design Antonio Ponce
Sound Yesid Vasquez
Producer Julián Quintero

Produced by

Los Niños Films

César Alejandro Jaimes

Born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1993. He is studying Film at the Corporacion Universitaria Unitec Oficial in Bogotá. Lapü is his first feature-length film.

Filmography

2016 La Venda; 37 min. 2017 Portete; 5 Min., co-directed by Juan Pablo Polanco 2019 Lapü

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019

Juan Pablo Polanco

Born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1994. He studied Fine Arts and Film Direction and worked as a cameraman, editor and assistant director on documentary film productions. Lapü is his first feature-length film.

Filmography

2017 Portete; 5 Min., co-directed by Cesar Alejandro Jaimes 2018 A la Deriva; 12 min. 2019 Lapü

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019