La Casa
a documentary film by Tayo Cortés
co-produced by Devenir & Andoliado
In the outskirts of Bogota a family survives of recycling of lefts over that the city produces and upbringing a few animals. They dream of a house with running water and electricity, but family disputes will make it harder for them to progress.
The Mendez family have been living on occupied land in the hills outside Bogotá for 40 years. They can be legally evicted at any time.
Every day they walk down to the city to collect scrap materials to sell, and left overs from restaurants to feed their pigs.
Victor has been married to Marta for 10 years, but Elvira his mother has never seen her with good eyes.
The conflict between these two women forces Victor to take sides and comes in the way of their efforts to earn a living.
The threats that a neighbour makes to Victor, will give Elvira another reason to blame Marta for all family’s problems, but Sandra, their youngest daughter will provide another chance to unite the family.
Dignity and courage combine in a story about the imposibility of progress and the persistence of dreams for this family of scrap merchants.
Director's Note
"For a long time I felt an interest in observing the different and sometimes strange ways people have no option to work within the system they survive. In Bogota, a city, it is common to see on the streets persons of all ages to play countless and precarious work independently; hawkers food, newspapers, movies and music, goat milk, eucalyptus leaves and anything that someone somewhere is willing to buy. In addition to vendors, there are jugglers and balanced scammers , windshield wipers, forwarders improvised, street sweepers, asphalt parchadores and recyclers, as the protagonists of this story.
Among the five people who initially chose Elvira, a woman of about 55 years down daily with a horse and a donkey from the hills on the periphery to the center of the city where recycled food scraps from restaurants to feed their pigs. Elvira told me about his family and his son Victor. One day we agreed to go together to the hill to visit your home and meet the family. We received well, with great curiosity as we felt too. Climb to the house several times and we are in the city when Victor came down with his wife Marta to collect food.
Victor was a born storyteller, and his sincerity touched me in every interview. We started talking about the job but quickly appeared most important stories of the past conflicts that had marked the life of these people. I decided to focus the narrative on the conflict of the human family and Méndez deleting the other stories, and place in which it had been my original idea, working in the streets and difficulties.
Since then he ceases to amaze me the ease and clarity with which Victor and his family assimilated what I intended to do. Although they had no access to television and less a movie, from start to understand and accept that we were making a movie. The day they showed the documentary ended, Victor told me with shining eyes: "I never thought a movie about my life."
Tayo Cortes - Barcelona 2009
Festivals and Prices
Muestra Internacional de Documental de Bogotá www.muestradoc.com - 2009
Festival de Cine de Bogotá www.bogocine.com - 2009
International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film - Dok Leipzig
www.dok-leipzig.de
SILVER DOVE AWARD (2ND PRIZE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION) - 2009
Tessaloniki Documentary Festival - 2010 tdf.filmfestival.gr/default.aspx
É Tudo Verdade - 2010 www.itsalltrue.com.br/
Dok Fest Munich - 2010 www.dokfest-muenchen.de/
SPECIAL MENTION HORIZONS AWARD 2010
Every day they walk down to the city to collect scrap materials to sell, and left overs from restaurants to feed their pigs.
Victor has been married to Marta for 10 years, but Elvira his mother has never seen her with good eyes.
The conflict between these two women forces Victor to take sides and comes in the way of their efforts to earn a living.
The threats that a neighbour makes to Victor, will give Elvira another reason to blame Marta for all family’s problems, but Sandra, their youngest daughter will provide another chance to unite the family.
Dignity and courage combine in a story about the imposibility of progress and the persistence of dreams for this family of scrap merchants.
Director's Note
"For a long time I felt an interest in observing the different and sometimes strange ways people have no option to work within the system they survive. In Bogota, a city, it is common to see on the streets persons of all ages to play countless and precarious work independently; hawkers food, newspapers, movies and music, goat milk, eucalyptus leaves and anything that someone somewhere is willing to buy. In addition to vendors, there are jugglers and balanced scammers , windshield wipers, forwarders improvised, street sweepers, asphalt parchadores and recyclers, as the protagonists of this story.
Among the five people who initially chose Elvira, a woman of about 55 years down daily with a horse and a donkey from the hills on the periphery to the center of the city where recycled food scraps from restaurants to feed their pigs. Elvira told me about his family and his son Victor. One day we agreed to go together to the hill to visit your home and meet the family. We received well, with great curiosity as we felt too. Climb to the house several times and we are in the city when Victor came down with his wife Marta to collect food.
Victor was a born storyteller, and his sincerity touched me in every interview. We started talking about the job but quickly appeared most important stories of the past conflicts that had marked the life of these people. I decided to focus the narrative on the conflict of the human family and Méndez deleting the other stories, and place in which it had been my original idea, working in the streets and difficulties.
Since then he ceases to amaze me the ease and clarity with which Victor and his family assimilated what I intended to do. Although they had no access to television and less a movie, from start to understand and accept that we were making a movie. The day they showed the documentary ended, Victor told me with shining eyes: "I never thought a movie about my life."
Tayo Cortes - Barcelona 2009
Festivals and Prices
Muestra Internacional de Documental de Bogotá www.muestradoc.com - 2009
Festival de Cine de Bogotá www.bogocine.com - 2009
International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film - Dok Leipzig
www.dok-leipzig.de
SILVER DOVE AWARD (2ND PRIZE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION) - 2009
Tessaloniki Documentary Festival - 2010 tdf.filmfestival.gr/default.aspx
É Tudo Verdade - 2010 www.itsalltrue.com.br/
Dok Fest Munich - 2010 www.dokfest-muenchen.de/
SPECIAL MENTION HORIZONS AWARD 2010
Fact Sheet
Original title: La Casa
English title: The House
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - Color
Duration: 70 minutes
Original language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Shooting Format: DVCAM
Final format: HDCAM and BetaDigital
Production country: Colombia-Spain
Production Year: 2009
Credits
Director: Tayo Cortés
Assembly and direct sound: Carlos Rufete
Director of photography and camera: Tayo Cortés
Executive producer: Fanny Guerrero Riascos
Associate producers: Esteban Bernatas y Laura Collado
Producer: Devenir Producciones y Andoliado Producciones
Music: ChocQuibTown, Los Diablitos, Aries Vigoth
Participants: Elvira Torres Botía, Victor Manuel Méndez, Marta de Méndez, Sandra Marcela Méndez, Nelcy Tatiana Méndez, Mairon Freddy Méndez
Original title: La Casa
English title: The House
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - Color
Duration: 70 minutes
Original language: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Shooting Format: DVCAM
Final format: HDCAM and BetaDigital
Production country: Colombia-Spain
Production Year: 2009
Credits
Director: Tayo Cortés
Assembly and direct sound: Carlos Rufete
Director of photography and camera: Tayo Cortés
Executive producer: Fanny Guerrero Riascos
Associate producers: Esteban Bernatas y Laura Collado
Producer: Devenir Producciones y Andoliado Producciones
Music: ChocQuibTown, Los Diablitos, Aries Vigoth
Participants: Elvira Torres Botía, Victor Manuel Méndez, Marta de Méndez, Sandra Marcela Méndez, Nelcy Tatiana Méndez, Mairon Freddy Méndez
