The year was 2020 and while the entire world was confined facing one of the worst crises in its history, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Colombian journalist and documentary filmmaker Margarita Martínez embarked on one of the best experiences of her life. .
His restless mind ignored the confinement ordered by the health authorities and he dreamed of making a documentary* in homage to the thousands of women in Colombia they have had to carry the weight of war on their shoulders.
“I have been making documentaries for a long time and I have always had women in them. When the Peace Agreement was signed in Havana, I made one and did not include anything on gender. It was such a complex agreement that it was not easy to include everything. The women of Havana demanded a lot from me and I knew that at some point I had to pay off that enormous debt that I had with them,” recalls Margarita.
Recording a documentary in the middle of a pandemic, for many it was crazy. But without thinking about it, he found the perfect allies that would help him carry out this dream: “UN Women and the Swedish Embassy opened a tender to make a documentary about women peacebuilders. When I found out I jumped for happiness, because it was the possibility of including everything that women do, both in war and in the construction of peace”.
Filming began in September of that same year and according to Margarita, the emotion was as great as the fear of catching the virus. Each recording had to comply with the sanitary regulations of the moment and the complexities of access to the territories.
“As soon as the airports opened in 2020, we almost left on the first plane that there was for Putumayo to record the first group of women in the city of Puerto Asís, then in Mocoa and then we went by car to the department of Cauca and Out of fear of infecting someone or infecting ourselves, we returned from Cauca to Bogotá by car”, says the Colombian documentary filmmaker, who won the María Moors Cabot award for excellence in journalism in 2016 and was Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2009.
Filming of the documentary When the Waters come together.
The reality richer than imagination
They were intense months of recording. Perhaps one of the most impressive experiences of his career as a documentary filmmaker: “Reality is always richer, more complex, much more interesting than when you are imagining it, it almost always surprises you. One of my great honors is knowing almost all of this country, however, one always arrives and is surprised by the stories that one finds”.
Margarita interviewed mothers, daughters, sisters and wives who have experienced the conflict in Colombia firsthand, women who, according to her, have an impact due to their creativity, resistance, resilience and perseverance, but who paradoxically They have lived invisible throughout these years.
Like Mayerlis Angarita, from Narrar para Vivir, one of the protagonists of this documentary: “Bringing the voice of hope was the objective of this film. We are the living testimony of what the war was and of our bets to break the cycles of violence in Colombia”.
Full of gratitude to the women who decided to tell their story on camera, the filmmaker affirms that “Colombia has a historic debt to their women. They have carried the war. They survive, they are in charge of their families, children, nephews. I could say that like torches they have been looking for a way”.
In 85 minutes, the documentary managed to condense heartbreaking stories and images, titled When the Waters Meet. “Within the women’s movement, it is said that strength lies in coming together, like the great Amazon River, which is formed by hundreds of tiny rivers,” explains the director.
In this regard, Bibiana Aído Almagro, head of UN Women in Colombia, assures that “the tireless struggle of all women and their organizations, which we see reflected in the documentary, is a sample of the transforming power that women have in society. Without their determination, the Colombia that opens before our eyes todayplural, inclusive, with clear intentions for peace and committed to the rights of women in all their diversity, It would not be possible”.
For her part, María Noel Vaeza, regional director of UN Women for the Americas and the Caribbean, highlighted that “this documentary is an innovative way to connect, empathize, dignify and recognize the incredible work that women have done in the conflict. What Colombian women in their diversity have experienced is reflected here to set an example to the world of heroism, empathy and solidarity.”
Filming of the documentary When the Waters come together.
Stories of healing and forgiveness
The documentary highlights the story of healing and forgiveness of the members of the Association of Women of Eastern Antioquia, who tell how they help each other overcome grief.
“For us it was impressive to recognize ourselves on the screen with so many women, many of whom we did not know and with whom we coincided in the fight for the defense of life, justice and peace, regardless of the territory we all share that objective. common throughout the years, hoping that the new generations will not have to repeat history,” says Clemencia López, from the Soacha Women’s Organizations Board.
A school in the department of Chocó for women who want to do politics is also announced. “They make us their reflection on how difficult it is for women to enter public life, staying in it and the obstacles they face. It is a reflection of gender inequality in our country,” says Margarita.
The audiovisual piece also tells the life stories of Fátima and Yuli, two brave women who have lived through the conflict from two different shores: one fighting so that the armed groups do not take their recruited children and the other insisting on that the economy of the coca leaf must be transformed into a collective one.
“Without a doubt, with this documentary I learned the value of resistance, of perseverance. I learned that alone we do nothing; that only when the waters come together and grow, we are able to flow and transform ”, concludes Margarita, for whom this documentary is one of the most important of her career.
*The documentary When the Waters Meetwhich highlights the transforming role that women’s participation has in achieving peace, is on national billboards in Colombia and will have performances in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Madrid, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
Report produced by Paola Rojas Camacho for UN News.
