SYNOPSIS
Frontera Invisible is the true story of communities trapped in the middle of the world’s longest war, in which big landowners’ rush for palm oil to produce ‘green’ fuel has displaced peasant farmers and indigenous people. It has destroyed natural habitats and concentrated land in the hands of the rich.
One part environmental documentary and one part social research through victims’ testimonials, Frontera Invisible gives voice to the local communities that are fighting hard to reclaim their land while exposing the major pitfalls of biofuels policy.
In Colombia the government signed a peace deal with rebel group FARC which ended 60 years of armed conflict. A war that has displaced more people than the entire population of Denmark. Meanwhile, the government plans to keep planting palm to supply Colombia and Europe with ‘biodiesel’. Will peace return the land to its true owners or merely hand it over to Big Agribusiness?
IN MEMORY OF HERNÁN BEDOYA
Hernán Bedoya, Colombian community leader and human rights activist, was shot dead on the 8th of December 2017 by neo-paramilitary group Autodefensas Gaitanisas de Colombia.
Hernán returned to his land with his family in 2012 after being displaced by paramilitary groups in 1996. Since 2012 he had fought to claim back his land, denouncing palm oil, banana and rancher companies in Pedeguita and Mancilla for illegal landgrabbing and deforestation. Since 2015 Hernán had received numerous threats on his life, which were reported to the State authorities as documented by NGO Comision Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz.
Hernán generously gave testimony for Frontera Invisible.
TEAM
Nicolas Richat
Co-Director, Producer, Director of Photography, CameraFind more
Experience:
Nicolás Richat holds a degree from Centro integral de Experimentación en Video y Cine, Buenos Aires. From 2003 until 2008, Nicolás worked for Buenos Aires TV channel Ciudad Abierta, where he experimented with different audiovisual formats and interacted with prominent artists from Buenos Aires and Latin America. As of 2008, Nicolas started freelancing for TV, Cinema and Advertising projects. From mid 2010 until early 2012 he went back to cultural TV channel Ciudad Abierta as the Art Director, focusing his work in the recuperation of the visual identity of the only public broadcaster in the City of Buenos Aires. During those two years, he helped create 120 hours of TV content, 15 series, 132 programme episodes and 446 micro-programmes. He has freelanced for a variety of renowned production companies, TV channels and NGOs such as Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, History Channel, FOX, Disney, INCAA, Canal 7 Canal Encuentro, Ciudad Abierta, IWGIA, UNESCO and Transport & Environment. He is now the co-founder of Gancho, a production company that creates memorable documentaries.
Previous work:
– Qhapaq Ñan, desandando el camino / Gustavo Santaolalla
– Barones de la cerveza / Nominado al Emmy Internacional
– Súper Cerebro / Facundo Manes
– Reel 2013
Contact:
+54 9 11 3431 8899
Nico Muzi
Co-Director, Producer, Research and script collaboratorFind more
Experience:
Nico is the director of communications for Transport & Environment, Europe’s leading NGO campaigning for cleaner transport and fuels. A tireless storyteller, Nico has told many stories in written and visual form. But Frontera Invisible is his first incursion on film documentary. He has been communicating on the biofuels business since 2010 while consulting a top biofuels producer for global PR firm Weber Shandwick. After joining Transport & Environment, Nico campaigned extensively on the social and environmental impact of biofuels. While digging deeper in the matter, Nico developed the idea of the new biofuels frontiers, beyond the well-documented cases of deforestation and peatland drainage in Indonesia and Malaysia. That was the first step of a journey that took Gancho and Transport & Environment to Colombia. Other frontiers Nico would love to explore are: Perú, Congo, Papua New Guinea, among others.
Animated videos Nico co-directed:
– Biofuels – The Butterfly Effect
– Exposed! See how T&E’s cleaning up transport
– Stop the oil waste from europe’s cars
Contact:
+32 (0)4 84 27 87 91
+32 (0)2 851 02 05
t-e_nico
Daniel Truchi
EditorFind more
Experience:
Daniel Truchi works in photography since 2006 and as film editor since 2011. He is currently working at “Gancho” doing film editing, color grading, 2D animation and compositing. He has been a member of the Argentine Audiovisual Publishers Association (EDA) since 2016.
Filmography:
– Legado del Mar (Documentary) 2016
– Frontera Invisible (Documentary) 2016
– Lluvia Cósmica (TV Documentary) 2015
– Paisajes del Himno (TV Documentary, 4 episodes) 2014
Mihai Stoica
Executive producerFind more
Mihai is a freelance photo and video journalist with a bachelor in Communication Sciences and master studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology. His media work involves investigating and documenting social and environmental issues for mass-media and NGOs in Romania and internationally. Since 2007, Mihai has featured stories about the socio-environmental effects of coal and gold mining in Romania, the last dancing bears in Bulgaria and climate negotiations in Denmark, among others. In 2013, he also started working as an environmental campaigner and researcher on sustainable transport and bioenergy issues with 2Celsius – an environmental NGO that he helped co-found back in 2010 – which focuses on climate change related policies, media production and non-formal education.