Belen

Premio del público al mejor largometraje documental en el Caracas Doc!

Sección oficial en el Margaret Mead Film Festival, Nueva York.

BELEN sabia guerrera inmortal de batallas cotidianas, reina del Quitiplá, maestra del bambú (de sus sonidos y silencios). Humilde agricultora de cacao y músico de un pequeño pueblo afrovenezolano. Reina madre, ancestro común para la familia alargada de la diáspora Africana, sus luchas históricas y el repicar de sus tambores. Inspiración, espíritu, resonante: Belén.

Un retrato inusual que concede espacio a la evocación y representación de la memoria. Un viaje hacia las reminiscencias de su vida (y muerte) capturada en más de 100 horas de metraje encontrado amateur y evocado en los gestos espejo de múltiples puntos de vista. Un camino hacia la comprensión del poder de la música, de acciones humildes y auténticas, para la transformación social.

Hands of earth, crystal eyes, ancestral bridge.  Immortal humble wise noble warrior.  BELEN a cocoa farmer and musician from a small Afro-Venezuelan village that, unaware of her powers, becomes main inspiration for her community and for people all over the American continent (during her life, and after her death as a spiritual being). Queen of the Quitipla. Master of bamboo’s sounds and silences.  Core and bridge to the African American community, to its connected beats and historical fights.

A trip into the puzzled reminiscences of this woman’s life (and death), captured through more than 100 hours of amateur found footage  and expressed through the mirrored gestures of multiple points of view. An unusual musical portrait filled with personal and collective resonant rituals; a path to understand the power of music and modest authentic actions, for social transformation.

“The impossible portrait of a woman indifferent to her own extraordinariness becomes a collective venture between many friends and relatives of Belén María Palacios, La Reina del Quitiplá. The mixing gives their words a polyvocal aspect. The sound of the quitiplá, a rudimentary and little known instrument from Venezuela, preserves the efficiency and virtuosity of her performance. By unveiling the tricks of the shooting, by exposing the multiplicity of its sources, the film sheds light on its protagonist while sharing a collective tribute”.

Gilles Grand (Fid Marseille)