ABOUT US
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direcciones is an award-winning Colombian production company specializing in high-quality cultural, and environmentaly-concious content for
film, web and television. Co-founded by a strong creative duo of audio-visual artists with established careers in film, television, and documentary production, our credits include acclaimed projects on art, history, and the Amazon for regional and international television stations. On-going collaborations with distinguished filmmakers like Peter Webber (Girl with a Pearl Earring), and an internationally recognized animation studio, allow us to develop the highest-quality socially relevant projects, while strong alliances with NGOs like Gaia Amazon, provide us with unprecedented access to indigenous communities. We are currently developing an animation studio devoted to content for children with projects set up to debut worldwide.
GO FIGURE 2D animation series ages 0 to 4 2012
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he clips of Go Figure are aimed at children between the ages of six and twelve. Through the use of moving geometrical figures, recognizable images begin to form themselves on the television screen. Squares out of which circles fall from the sky and turn into walkers with giant heads or princes or damsels. It is a two-dimensional universe in which reality flows and may change from one moment to the next. Thanks to the combination of geometrical images, it is possible to suggest many characters in a variety of situations. Among these possible stories there are voyages to the bottom of the sea, snakes from the jungle which devour apples that are too big for their stomachs, princes who cross drawbridges and princesses who keep crying for their lost pets. Through this geometrical game, the series to seeks to develop children´s skills in concentration, reasoning, analysis and deduction. To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/figurate/
Yoga for children 2D/3D animation and Live-action series ages 4 to 8 26 x 7 min. 2012
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he aim of this series is to show the virtues of Yoga to children. The characters are eight cows of different races who do different yoga postures which children can repeat in their homes. The yoga teacher is a gurucat: daring and curious, flexible and hieratic, like any true master yogi. This cat teacher not only explains how to practice the different positions but also their benefits both for the body and spirit. In these exercises, he leads his disciples: animated figures of the cows juxtaposed with real images of children and this combination of resources creates a fluid movement where one pose follows another in a calm and beautiful choreography.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/ooommm-mmmooo/
2D/3D animation and Live-action series ages 6 to 9 26 x 11 min. 2012
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co is a bear who wanders through the world and observes contemporary life, the excesses committed by we human beings and the harm done by uncontrolled consumption to the different natural systems which maintain life on Earth. This series urges children and adults to adopt a style of life that is in harmony with nature and actively protects it. Its protagonist, Eco the little bear, undertakes a journey around the world accompanied a number of animals like an eagle and a crab, who lead him to consult specialists in varied cultures. Among them are a shaman, a scientific expert, a naturist and a teacher. They help Eco to understand the gravest environmental and social problems which mankind currently faces. However, the series does not only dwell on the harms being visited on the planet. In an entertaining way, it also offers practical solutions that we can apply in our daily lives.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
Indigenous People and the Stars 2d animation and liveaction series 2012
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stronomías is a dazzling series of short videos which we have developed with the Parque Explora (Exploring Park) of Medellín for the new planetarium in Bogotá and tells how different indigenous peoples in Colombia relate to the stars.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/astronomias-3/
The Wise Jungle Documentary series ages 6 to 9 26 x 11 min. in development
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any educational series for children are narrated from the standpoint of the urban inhabitant of the western world, and thus none are like this one. “La selva sabia�� (The Wise Jungle) is completely novel. Indigenous boys and girls from the Colombian Amazon present their special system of education to a worldwide audience of children. Chapter by chapter, they teach us about their culture and daily surroundings.
Photo: Sergio Bartelsman / Wade Davis
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/la-selva-sabia/
The classroom of these children is the infinite jungle. It demonstrates how ethno-educational programs in Colombian seek to integrate western knowledge with that of the inhabitants of the Amazon in order to confront the crisis which threatens the survival of the planet. Mathematics are useful when they go fishing. Geometry teaches how to weave baskets. And they learn the alphabet from the birds. The children thus turn into researchers of scientific knowledge and learn from persons of different ages in their community. Each chapter is an expedition to the heart of the profound wisdom of the Amazon jungle.
Musical Creatures 2D/3D animation and stopmotion live-action series ages 4 to 6 26 x 11 min. in development
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usic is the protagonist of these clips. But they are not meant to promote singers or record companies, but to help children understand the very notion of music: an art which is moving and enables humans to express the most profound feelings. Using her knowledge as a musicologist, Amalia Low shows us musical animals who teach children about the different facets of music: intonation, rhythm, movement, dynamics, expressiveness and musical appreciation. The clips use original melodies and games that challenges to help children approach music through the screen.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
“Canticuentos “ 2D/3D, stopmotion and liveaction series ages 4 to 6 26 x 4 min. in development
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he l.P. entitled “Canticuentos” (sung stories) will evoke an instant response in several generations of Colombians and Latin Americans, who will hum some song they remember from their childhood, like the Iguana and the Sloth, the Little sugar-cane train or Sammy, the ice-cream man. And when we see this response or hear how adults return to their infancy, we understand the strong impact left by such songs. “Canticuentos” was a creation of the Chilean composer Marlore Andwanter, who lived in Colombia in the 1970´s. Since then, “Canticuentos” has entered into the collective consciousness of Colombians and spread beyond its borders to become part of the classic repertory of Latin American children´s songs. That is a good reason for these video clips, which introduce that music to a new generation, along with anecdotes about how Marlore created each of her memorable songs. To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
The Enchanted Forest 2D/3D animation, stop-motion and Liveaction series ages 4 to 8 26 x 11 min. in development
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eleste and Salvador are a sister and brother who live in a village impoverished by drought. They set out to solve this problem and thus penetrate the Enchanted Forest. Along the way they meet up with powerful animals who awaken their own inner powers and enable them to find the mystery of rain.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
Grandfather owl guides them through the wisdom of the dark night. The golden hummingbird teaches them to have the joyful heart that allows one to overcome all suffering. Spider, the little weaver, invites them to know the web which connects all of us. In a dark cave the wrongly maligned bats give them an entertaining lesson in solidarity. When they fall asleep, the blue lizard opens the door to a dimension where everything is possible for them. Josefina the tortoise and her girlfriend the hare remind them to respect rhythms other than their own. In a moment of crisis, the jaguar appears to show them how to proceed without fear or distraction. In the course of this fantastic journey, the children solve one mystery after another until they find the animal which brings the rain.
2D animation, stop-motion and Liveaction series ages 4 to 8 26 x 11 min. in development
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he “Secret Service of the Imagination” is a club of special agents created by Toc-Toc, head of the “Creating with the Imagination” Department and Dorotea, head of the “Dose of Imagination” Department. Months after beginning our operations in the field of creation and the illustration of graphic design, products and other such things, we meet up again with Doctor Cat, head of the Department of Eco-Design and Grandmother Meme, head of the Department of Traditional Adventures, with her long experience as a secret agent. “The Secret Service of the Imagination” is a Web portal with a bidirectional content. “The Secret Service of the Imagination” believes that creativity is the basic material for transforming the world. Children begin to form part of a community which shares their creative ideas and applies them to the daily world through a grand center for the creation of projects. The site allows children to upload their experiences and register their creations.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
The adventures of detective Felipe Marlo 2D animation, stop-motion and Liveaction series ages 4 to 8 26 x 11 min. in development
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he Felipe Marlo is a retired detective who lives in a world of imaginary characters. He shares his adventures with unemployed artists and retired vampires. His car, which an antique model, is also his house, office and arsenal of tricks. Its endless trunk is full of maps, books and information which help him to solve his cases and confront the dangers which threaten him. He is always accompanied by boys and girls who help him to solve the mysteries of each case. Consisting of a group of novels for children and adolescents, the detective Felipe Marlow series offers adventures in crime fighting, inspired by the classic series of cine noir and adapted with humor and imagination. Felipe Marlo is none other than a version of Philip Marlowe, the protagonist of the novels of Raymond Chandler, recreated for the world of the children of today. To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
HEE YYAIA KETI OKA short documentary film 12 min. / HD 2010
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he film offers profound insights into the enchantment and secrets of the Amazon jungle. One of the natural wonders which has survived its ecological extermination is the subject of this documentary, which arose from the Gaia Foundation´s proposal that the UNESCO declare “The Knowledge of the Jaguars of the Yuruparí”, of the River Pirá Paraná in Colombia, to be part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind. The documentary, narrated by Maximiliano García, of the Macuna indigenous community, and Roberto Marín, of the Barasano community, two leaders of the Association of Indigenous Captains and Authorities of the Pirá Paraná (ACAIPI), explains how the inhabitants of the jungle have learned to live in and conserve their environment. It shows us their respect for nature and how nature rewards this respect by blessing human beings with natural medicines and happy lives.
Photo: Sergio Bartelsman
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/hee-yaia-keti-oka/
The SSand and the Rain feature length documentary film 90 min. / HD 2010
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here is nothing more different than life on an island sitting on an ocean of petroleum, with a wealth of luxuries and advanced technologies, than that of the Amazon forest. An encounter between these two worlds is the starting point for this adventure. It tells what happens when three persons from distant Qatar, who are surrounded by creature comforts and luxuries, make a visit to an indigenous community in the middle of the biggest tropical rainforest in the world. In a parallel manner, it shows what happens when three shamans from the Makuna indigenous community of the Amazon, accustomed to living in complete harmony with nature, are taken on a visit to the modern world of Quatar.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/the-sand-and-the-rain-trailer-part-two/
This film explores the hidden links which exist between these two worlds and shows us why now, more than ever, the cultures which managed to preserve their traditional knowledge over hundreds or thousands of years are mankind´s greatest treasure.
Duvan Almendra and the Fall of the Great Puben Misak Confederation feature length documentary film 50 min. / HD in development
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his documentary offers an unconventional approach to film-making. It is a “making of” about the filming of a movie, whose protagonist and creator is the Misak community which lives in the Andes mountains of southern Colombia. Duván Almendra and a group of 40 indigenous youngsters are its makers. Their feature film is a fictional account of the greatest hero of all times, the Cacique (Chief) Payán, their ancestor. In their own words, it will be better than Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings combined. The film is thus a great adventure story narrated from the standpoint of the community to which it has been bequeathed. But, due to the economic and logistical complexity of a production of such dimensions, the idea is to do a shortfilm which documents the realization of the project. In that way, the short becomes an alternative manner of telling the story of the Cacique Payán. To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv
Guardians of “La Libertad“ Short documentary film 12 min. / HD 2008
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ome indigenous communities of the Colombian Amazon are mobilizing to challenge the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources which threatens to destroy their territory and culture. In January 2008, the Canadian mining company, Consigo Frontier, began explorations for the exploitation of gold deposits in a place known as La Libertad, Yuisi, on the river Apaporis in Colombia. For the indigenous peoples of the northeast Amazon, Yuisi is their mythical place of origin.
To learn about this project:
http://4direcciones.tv/los-guardianes-de-la-libertad-2/
The irreversible damages to the environment implied by such exploitation of minerals led a group of young leaders to undertake the task of recovering the knowledge of the elders or traditional leaders of the community about how their culture “manages the world” and cares for the forest. In a conversation during the ritual ingesting of coca, the youngsters ask the elders about all this and listen to what they say. Seeing the interest of these youngsters, who had lost interest in that knowledge, these elders see a hope for the future of their culture.
HISTORY´S B SIDE Documentary Series 12 x 24 min. / HDV 2008
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istory, with a capital H, is the living memory of a society. It explains the logic of its actions and the relation which exists between each event and its consequences. History is thus more than a list of battles or heroes of Colombian Independence. More than information about constitutions and periodical elections. “Side B of History” explores happenings from the recent past which, in one way or another, continue to have repercussions on the present. Each chapter is a call to activate the memory hidden in objects, places and persons.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/lado-b-de-la-historia/
Incidents like the 1928 strike in the banana plantations, the 19th century exploitation of rubber in the Amazon, the arrival of television in Colombia, the indigenous councils of the Savanna of Bogotá and indigenous struggles for a greater political and cultural autonomy are presented in an imaginative way, through the use of music and a strict fidelity to the work of historians, in order to show that history is a living thing which helps us to make sense of the present in which we live.
P Plástica
Contemporary art in Colombia
Documentary Series 10 x 24 min. / HDV 2004
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olombian art has gone through epochs of innovation and surprising shocks. Plástica (Colombian Plastic Arts) is a series which allows us to see what Colombian artists have been doing in the past twenty years. In the course of ten chapters, it shows the work of creators who make use of traditional techniques, like painting, drawing and graphics, and others who have found possibilities for expressing themselves in more recent media like photography, video and public art. Finally, other forms of art, little known to the public, are shown, like performance and installations. The approach to developments in all of these fields seeks to puncture the widespread notion that art is “difficult” or “boring” and present it as an intense and entertaining human activity which one may accede to with the help of a few basic concepts. To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/plastica-arte-contemporaneo-en-colombia/
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feature film (documentaries sort films & videoclips) directed by: peter webber drama, musical 100 min. in development
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resh is an passionate teenager who lives by his own rules. There are no limits for him: an iPod, money or love are things he can get by his way of looking at life and using his special skill: the subtle art of pick-pocketing. Fresh firmly believes that he can get away with breaking the rules. Chucho, a veteran of street life, takes him on as a disciple and shows him he has to learn much more. We watch Fresh and his friend Doggy live their lives to the rhythm of the images on security cameras and accompanied by the sounds of the city. Joining them is Juana, a girl from another social class who nevertheless shares Fresh´s liking for graffiti, music and risk. Fresh is also an homage to Robert Bresson´s Pickpocket, a contemporary version of that amoral drama, set in the Bogotá of hip-hop and graffiti. It is a film which presents a new look at one of the most vibrant cities in Latin America.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/fresh-en-cartagena/
ONE RIVER Based in the Book by Wade Davis Feature Film Mini series 6 x 50 min. In Development
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n 1941, Professor Richards Evans Schultes, a world authority on hallucinogenic plants, left Harvard University and lost himself in the depths of the Amazon. He spent twelve years there, exploring unmapped rivers, collecting plants hitherto unknown to science and studying dozens of indigenous tribes of the northwest Amazon. Thirty years later, at the beginning of the 1970´s, Schultes sent two of his most outstanding pupils, Tim Plowm and and Wade Davis, to continue investigating the botanical secrets of coca, the sacred plant which the Incas called “the divine leaf of immortality”. That world had changed a great deal when Plowman and Davis undertook their journey, and today, another three decades later, it is about to disappear. From that experience arose Wade Davis´acclaimed book, One River, which offers extraordinary cinematographic possibilities. 4Direcciones has acquired the rights to adapt the book, has the support of Wade Davis as supervisor of the scripts and has invited the renowned filmmaker Peter Weber to direct the project.
Photo: Richard Evans Schultes
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/one-river-en-desarrollo/
Maxi - keeper of the Anacondas Feature S3D - HD Liveaction - animation 120 min. in development
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boy of 13 from the Macuna indigenous group, Maximilian or Maxi, returns to his community in the middle of the jungle after having spent part of his childhood in a missionary boarding school in a city. On arriving, he is contemptuous of the “primitive” beliefs of his family and community. As the weeks pass, Maxi begins to dream. One day, a poisonous snake bites him and his grandfather, thanks to his knowledge of traditional medicine, save his life. This experience with the poison changes his way of seeing the world. When he recovers, Maxi has acquired a power which Macuna call “Jaguar Eyes”, that is, the ability to see beyond ordinary reality. The dreams and visions he has had thus begin to make sense: he is dreaming the myths of his ancestors. From then onwards, Maxi begins to inquire into the traditions of his grandfather, who will train him as his favorite disciple and transmit the secrets of his calling and tradition.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
Guga s Healing short time S3D - HD liveaction - animation 120 min. in development
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frequent accident in the jungle – a snakebite – leads us to watch a miraculous cure. In a maloca or ceremonial longhouse, a guga, or medicine man, prepares an oration to the animals and trees so that his son Tarsicio may open a food plot in a patch of the forest. This takes the form of an agreement with, mainly, the spirit who is the “master” of the poisonous animals, the most dangerous in the jungle. Ignacio´s prayer seems to be effective. The animals agree to move to another part of the jungle so that humans may cultivate their garden there. However, when Tarsicio begins to clear the terrain, his 12 year-old son is bitten by a poisonous snake. The medicine man spends days and nights in the maloca trying to save his life.
To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
In the course of that healing ritual, we learn that the animals attacked the child because the humans broke an important law of the agreement: they began to clear the land before the time agreed on for the departure of the animals. After several days of applying medicines and engaging in negotiations with the spirits, the animals yield and return the soul of the child, who fortunately survives.
in development
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his is an IPTV channel devoted to bio-cultural diversity in Colombia and the world. Along with other organizations and dozens of creators, investigators and producers, the 4 Direcciones is working to advance this project, which is fundamental for the health of the planet. It is an internet channel which gathers works from all kinds of audiovisual formats, art projects and acts of cultural memory. Thanks to the latest technology, with applications to the Web and new ideas of business strategies, the internet allows us to undergo a new experience on television. This is possible because the ability to interact on the Web encourages the exchange of knowledge and experience. 4direcciones.tv is a television channel on Internet which
makes use of audiovisual material by well-known directors but also material produced by communities. Its multi-platform content allows it to not only broadcast on the Web but also reach conventional television, social networks and of course consumers, directly through tablets and smart phones. To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv/
Contact: Richard Decaillet richard@4direcciones.tv Mobile (57)(1) 3123972007
Diana Rico diana@4direcciones.tv Mobile (57)(1) 3124521533
www.4direcciones.tv
tel. (57)(1) 2822766 - Cra 5 no. 29 - 39 / 306 Torre B La Macarena, Bogotรก D. C. Colombia
Documentary Series 12 episodes x 50 min. 2005
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To learn about this project: http://4direcciones.tv