Friday, Apr. 28, 2017 – Sunday, Apr. 30, 2017

Presented by writer-director Iván Gaona

Iván Gaona’s suspenseful feature debut unfolds in the writer-director’s hometown of Güespa, nestled in Colombia’s oil-rich Santander Department, a region especially vulnerable to right-wing paramilitaries. Set in 2005, the year President Álvaro Uribe planned to initiate a treaty with paramilitary commanders, Guilty Men tells a gripping crime story about ordinary men caught in a situation that rapidly slips out of their control. Willington and a handful of other village men are charged with managing extortion payments to the local paramilitary. When their contact is killed, the men have conflicting ideas about what to do with the money left in their hands. Meanwhile, Willington is in love with Mariana, who is pregnant and engaged to someone else.

Laden with double-crosses and tangled allegiances, Guilty Men is a universal story of greed and corruption, enlivened by an excellent soundtrack of salsa, cumbia, and rock.

Friday, April 28, 2017: 7 p.m.–9:15 p.m.
Sunday, April 30, 2017: 1 p.m.–3 p.m.

About the Filmmaker
Iván Gaona was born in Güepsa, Colombia. His passion for the art of cinema began while he was studying civil engineering in Bucaramanga. He created a cineclub with a group of friends who made video clips and one-minute films. Shortly after, during a workshop from Colombia’s Ministry of Culture, he met three cinema experts: actor coach Juan Pablo Félix, producer Giovanna Hernández, and Carlos Henao from Cinefilia. After college he worked in an investigation department digitizing topographic blueprints before studying cinema at the National University of Colombia. He has directed the shortsPortraits (2012), El Tiple (2013), and Naranjas (2014). Guilty Men (2016) is his first feature.

Website and trailer are in Spanish.