Esteban Hoyos García on the Urgent Need to Remember Colombia’s Disappeared

A Call to Remember: The Genesis of a Powerful Narrative

When filmmaker Juan Miguel Gelacio first sat down to listen to the harrowing accounts of Colombian mothers searching for their disappeared sons, he did not initially set out to create a landmark documentary. What began as a curiosity about human resilience quickly transformed into a profound moral imperative. Recognizing the weight of these stories, Gelacio realized that a simple documentary format might not capture the emotional depth required to truly honor these women. This realization led to a pivot toward a short fiction film, a medium he believed would provide the necessary narrative space to process the trauma of forced disappearances.

To help navigate this complex emotional landscape, Gelacio brought on board Esteban Hoyos García, his co-director from the acclaimed project "Jungle." Together, the pair embarked on a journey that would eventually culminate in the production of "Five Years, Four Months." The film serves as both a cinematic achievement and a political act, aiming to ensure that the faces and names of the missing are not erased from the national consciousness.

The Intersection of Art and Political Urgency

For Hoyos García, the urgency of the project is intrinsically linked to the current political climate in Colombia. As the country navigates the complexities of shifting administrations and the looming influence of right-wing politics, the film acts as a safeguard against collective amnesia. "Memory is a battlefield," Hoyos García noted during discussions at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The filmmakers argue that when a society stops looking for its missing, it risks losing its moral compass entirely.

In "Five Years, Four Months," the directors move beyond mere statistics. They focus on the visceral, day-to-day struggle of the mothers. The title itself refers to the specific duration of a search—a temporal marker that highlights the exhausting, unending nature of waiting for news that may never come. By grounding the narrative in the mundane yet agonizing reality of these women, the film forces the audience to confront the human cost of systemic violence.

Challenging the Narrative of Erasure

One of the primary goals of the film is to challenge the institutional silence that often surrounds disappearances in conflict-ridden zones. The filmmakers emphasize that the state’s failure to acknowledge these losses is, in itself, a form of violence. Through their lens, the act of searching becomes a radical political statement.

• Focus on Agency: The film highlights the agency of the mothers, moving them from passive victims to active protagonists in their own stories.
• Historical Context: The narrative provides a bridge between past atrocities and the current political atmosphere, suggesting that the past is never truly buried.
• Cinematic Language: The use of fiction elements allows the directors to explore the psychological interiority of the characters in ways that raw footage sometimes cannot.

The Role of Memory in a Changing Colombia

As Colombia faces potential leadership shifts, the creators of "Five Years, Four Months" believe that cinema has a responsibility to document the truth. The film does not merely recount the past; it serves as a warning for the future. By keeping the stories of the disappeared in the public eye, the filmmakers hope to prevent the normalization of violence.

"The camera is a witness," says Hoyos García. "In a world that wants to move on and forget, our job is to make it impossible to look away." This commitment to truth-telling is what sets the project apart. It is not just a film about the past; it is a film about the necessity of maintaining a conscience in the present. As the project gains traction at international festivals, it serves as a powerful reminder that while governments change, the human need for justice remains a constant force.