The animated film聽el聽arbor del amor鈥嬄�(The Tree of Love)鈥�, created as part of a 蜜桃AV (蜜桃AV) research project telling the stories of ex-child soldiers in Columbia, will be screened as part of the Changing the Story Online International Film Festival聽between 1 - 5 June.
The festival is part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)/Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funded project led by the University of Leeds鈥� and el arbor del amor will also be competing for Best Film.
The film聽was produced as the main output聽of a 蜜桃AV聽GCRF funded project: 'Children of the Revolution: Animating the lives of ex-FARC Child Soldiers to promote peace and reconciliation in Colombia'. Working with young people embroiled in Colombia鈥檚 civil conflict, the project team aimed to understand the suffering caused by the conflict through listening to their experiences of violence and forced recruitment.
While the characters in the film are fictional, their stories are real 鈥� constructed from 25 testimonies from former child combatants and young survivors of conflict in the remote聽indigenous Nasa聽reservation of聽Jambal贸, Cauca in southwestern Colombia. The children who participated in the project created the narrative and the animations used in the film.
One of the research team, Dr Karen Fowler-Watt explains: 鈥淭he importance of listening is central to our animated film. We devised the concept of 鈥榮tory listening鈥� as opposed to 鈥榮torytelling鈥� to capture the way in which the film鈥檚 narrative developed to present a collation of the animated stories of the young people from Colombia鈥檚 indigenous Cauca community, who were caught up in conflict 鈥� several as child soldiers. 聽Our mantra is that the animation represents Their stories. Their voices. Their animation!鈥�
In September 2019, the young film-makers travelled to Bogot谩 to screen the film and to share their stories of lived experience with the Colombian Truth Commission, which is investigating the 55 鈥� year civil conflict. After the visit, the Commission accepted the film as official聽testimony.
Now screening at the Changing the Story Online International Film Festival, the film has the opportunity to reach a wider audience 鈥� allowing the children and young people to tell their story in their words to even more people. The Changing the Story project supports the building of inclusive civil societies with, and for, young people in post-conflict settings and the festival will showcase the artistic work of many often-silenced groups.
Dr Fowler-Watt said: 鈥淚t is a great honour to be included in the online film festival. The Changing the Story project is doing so much to raise awareness about how we tell the stories of others and the importance of listening to marginalised voices, so that their voices can be heard.鈥�
The research team is comprised of members of the 蜜桃AV鈥檚 Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion and Social Justice: Stephen Jukes; Karen Fowler-Watt; Paula Callus and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, as well as former 蜜桃AV colleague Mathew Charles, who is now a research fellow in the Faculty of International, Political and Urban Studies at El Rosario University, Bogot谩.
The trailer for El聽arbor del amor鈥� 聽is currently available to watch via Global Voices where it is possible to read more about the making of the film, which will be online after 6 June
You can see more about the Online International Film Festival
Find out more about the work of the Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion and Social Justice here.
