
Directing
Luis Ospina
Born — Died
1949-06-14 — 2019-09-27
Place of birth
Cali, Colombia
Known for
Directing
Credits
54 titles
Luis Ospina (14 June 1949 – 27 September 2019) was a Colombian film director. He is one of the founders of Caliwood film movement along with Carlos Mayolo and Andrés Caicedo.
Known for
5.0No synopsis available yet.
Ciné regards
1978
4.4Remembers an artist in the form of a somnambulistic fantasy: A filmmaker faces increasing challenges as she tries, decades later, to complete Dominican filmmaker Jean-Louis Jorge’s unfinished work.
Holy Beasts
2019
6.0A wild short made as part of a filmmaking workshop that Raúl Ruiz ran in Bogotá in October 1993.
Chapter 66
1994
6.9Roberto Hurtado suffers from a rare disease that requires massive transfusions of blood from children or adolescents. His son blackmails three employees to get blood for him and they resort to unscrupulous methods to obtain it.
Pure Blood
1982
10.0Mudos testigos is a cinematographic collage made from all the surviving material of Colombian silent films, re-editing the images in such a way as to create a single imaginary film: the impossible love story of Efraín and Alicia that traces the convulsive first half of the twentieth century in Colombia. Compiled by the late Luis Ospina and finished posthumously by Jeronimo Atehortúa.
Silent Witnesses
2023
8.0'A Ballad for dead children' is a tribute to Andrés Caicedo and Cali and it's group, as the seed of a cinematographic phenomenon, but it goes one step further. Testimonies and fragment readings compose, together with a very powerful archive material, the story of a story that has a deep sense and cinematographic interest: the story of Andrés and his eternal fascination with horror literature and cinema b, the of the boy who was born to write, that of the young man who decided to mock death by planning his own ending. A film that tries to maintain the difficult balance on the fine line that separates and unites the two: man and work, work and man, in an eternal and indissoluble way.
A Ballad for Dead Children
2020
Film credits
2020s · 3 titles
8.0'A Ballad for dead children' is a tribute to Andrés Caicedo and Cali and it's group, as the seed of a cinematographic phenomenon, but it goes one step further. Testimonies and fragment readings compose, together with a very powerful archive material, the story of a story that has a deep sense and cinematographic interest: the story of Andrés and his eternal fascination with horror literature and cinema b, the of the boy who was born to write, that of the young man who decided to mock death by planning his own ending. A film that tries to maintain the difficult balance on the fine line that separates and unites the two: man and work, work and man, in an eternal and indissoluble way.
A Ballad for Dead Children
2020
4.7In 2018, a group of filmmakers calling themselves "Los Quietos" set out to make a film essay on a hypothetical syndrome of stillness in the Republic of Colombia. To this end, they invite Colombian documentary master Luis Ospina, presidential candidate Gustavo Petro and writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez to give them clues to delve into the history, geography and idiosyncrasy of Colombia, a country that, paradoxically, has very little of stillness. For unknown reasons, the project remained unfinished.
The Stillness Syndrome
2021
NRAn encounter, in Lisbon, with Colombian filmmaker Luis Ospina (1949- 2019). He talks about the troubled modern history of Colombia, while remembering his life and work: his childhood, the early affinity with cinema, his time in the United States, his comeback to his birth country, and the foundation of Grupo de Cali, alongside Carlos Mayolo and Andrés Caicedo.
Ospina Cali Colombia
2024
2010s · 3 titles
4.4Remembers an artist in the form of a somnambulistic fantasy: A filmmaker faces increasing challenges as she tries, decades later, to complete Dominican filmmaker Jean-Louis Jorge’s unfinished work.
Holy Beasts
2019
7.7An intimate portrait of the pioneering artistic collective Grupo de Cali, whose work is now considered a fundamental part of Colombia’s film history.
It All Started at the End
2015
NRJairo José Pinilla Téllez is the pioneer of suspense and science fiction in Colombian film. Pinilla was the first to use special effects in Colombian film and now, at the age of over 70, he is working to finish his last film. This documentary follows Jairo’s footsteps through Colombian film.
Jairo’s Revenge
2019
1990s · 2 titles
9.3Faced with his imminent death from AIDS, Colombian artist Lorenzo Jaramillo looks back on his life and work through the five senses.
Our Film
1993
NRMemories from the neighborhood theaters in Cali, spaces that each summer occupied an important place in the heart of the people. In the neighborhood theaters, among others, Mexican cinema was widely exhibited, which incorporated Cali fashions and even strongly influenced the work of various local artists.
Cines de Barriada
1992
1980s · 3 titles
6.5In an old and mysterious tropical mansion cohabit the supposed owner, a friar, a convalescent pilot, the Haitian servant, the mercenary guardian and the Machiche, a mature and dominant female. A young model arrives there to unleash all kinds of passions.
The Manor of Araucaima
1986
7.0August 6, 1956 during the military dictatorship of Rojas Pinilla. A military convoy loaded with dynamite explodes in the center of Cali, destroying a good part of the traditional buildings of the city and exposing the roots of some houses that for years had kept the secret stories of their inhabitants.
Bloody Flesh
1983
7.0Based on the only four surviving shots of the first Colombian silent film, MARÍA (1921), by directors Máximo Calvo (Colombia) and Alfredo del Diestro (Spain), IN SEARCH OF ‘MARIA’ combines historical research, interviews, and scenic reconstruction to rescue the memory of a lost film.
In Search of Maria
1985
Series credits
Behind the camera
6.0A wild short made as part of a filmmaking workshop that Raúl Ruiz ran in Bogotá in October 1993.
Chapter 66
1994
6.9Roberto Hurtado suffers from a rare disease that requires massive transfusions of blood from children or adolescents. His son blackmails three employees to get blood for him and they resort to unscrupulous methods to obtain it.
Pure Blood
1982
6.9Roberto Hurtado suffers from a rare disease that requires massive transfusions of blood from children or adolescents. His son blackmails three employees to get blood for him and they resort to unscrupulous methods to obtain it.
Pure Blood
1982
6.9Roberto Hurtado suffers from a rare disease that requires massive transfusions of blood from children or adolescents. His son blackmails three employees to get blood for him and they resort to unscrupulous methods to obtain it.
Pure Blood
1982
10.0Mudos testigos is a cinematographic collage made from all the surviving material of Colombian silent films, re-editing the images in such a way as to create a single imaginary film: the impossible love story of Efraín and Alicia that traces the convulsive first half of the twentieth century in Colombia. Compiled by the late Luis Ospina and finished posthumously by Jeronimo Atehortúa.
Silent Witnesses
2023
10.0Mudos testigos is a cinematographic collage made from all the surviving material of Colombian silent films, re-editing the images in such a way as to create a single imaginary film: the impossible love story of Efraín and Alicia that traces the convulsive first half of the twentieth century in Colombia. Compiled by the late Luis Ospina and finished posthumously by Jeronimo Atehortúa.
Silent Witnesses
2023
7.4Two filmmakers travel around impoverished sectors of the cities of Bogotá and Cali in search of the images of abjection needed to complete a documentary commissioned by German TV. Meanwhile, another camera captures these “vampire” filmmakers feeding off the misery of their marginal subjects.
The Vampires of Poverty
1978
7.4Two filmmakers travel around impoverished sectors of the cities of Bogotá and Cali in search of the images of abjection needed to complete a documentary commissioned by German TV. Meanwhile, another camera captures these “vampire” filmmakers feeding off the misery of their marginal subjects.
The Vampires of Poverty
1978
7.4Two filmmakers travel around impoverished sectors of the cities of Bogotá and Cali in search of the images of abjection needed to complete a documentary commissioned by German TV. Meanwhile, another camera captures these “vampire” filmmakers feeding off the misery of their marginal subjects.
The Vampires of Poverty
1978
6.5The life of Pedro Manrique Figueroa, a pioneer of collage in Colombia, is both incomplete and contradictory. Taking his life and work as a pretext, this mockumentary takes the viewer on a journey through history from the year 1934 up until 1981, when the artist mysteriously disappeared from view.
A Paper Tiger
2008
6.5The life of Pedro Manrique Figueroa, a pioneer of collage in Colombia, is both incomplete and contradictory. Taking his life and work as a pretext, this mockumentary takes the viewer on a journey through history from the year 1934 up until 1981, when the artist mysteriously disappeared from view.
A Paper Tiger
2008
6.5The life of Pedro Manrique Figueroa, a pioneer of collage in Colombia, is both incomplete and contradictory. Taking his life and work as a pretext, this mockumentary takes the viewer on a journey through history from the year 1934 up until 1981, when the artist mysteriously disappeared from view.
A Paper Tiger
2008
7.7An intimate portrait of the pioneering artistic collective Grupo de Cali, whose work is now considered a fundamental part of Colombia’s film history.
It All Started at the End
2015
7.7An intimate portrait of the pioneering artistic collective Grupo de Cali, whose work is now considered a fundamental part of Colombia’s film history.
It All Started at the End
2015
7.7An intimate portrait of the pioneering artistic collective Grupo de Cali, whose work is now considered a fundamental part of Colombia’s film history.
It All Started at the End
2015
7.0Based on the only four surviving shots of the first Colombian silent film, MARÍA (1921), by directors Máximo Calvo (Colombia) and Alfredo del Diestro (Spain), IN SEARCH OF ‘MARIA’ combines historical research, interviews, and scenic reconstruction to rescue the memory of a lost film.
In Search of Maria
1985
7.0Using the unfinished film, ANGELITA Y MIGUEL ÁNGEL, by Andrés Caicedo and Carlos Mayolo, as a structuring device, friends of prolific film critic and writer Andrés Caicedo, an unforgettable figure of the group of Cali in the 1970s who left an incredible amount of texts, reflect upon his life, his work, and his suicide at the age of 25, testify to his influence in the cultural life of Colombia, and remember his strong and touching personality.
Andrés Caicedo: A Few Good Friends
1986
7.0Using the unfinished film, ANGELITA Y MIGUEL ÁNGEL, by Andrés Caicedo and Carlos Mayolo, as a structuring device, friends of prolific film critic and writer Andrés Caicedo, an unforgettable figure of the group of Cali in the 1970s who left an incredible amount of texts, reflect upon his life, his work, and his suicide at the age of 25, testify to his influence in the cultural life of Colombia, and remember his strong and touching personality.
Andrés Caicedo: A Few Good Friends
1986
6.6It begins with the tragedy of Armero, during the course investigates the murder of a beautiful woman and on his way some people die in the end a killing and a cemetery. Emerson Roque Fierro, former policeman and private investigator shadowing, investigates the murder of "Golondrina", a beautiful young woman, occurred in a seedy hotel in downtown Bogota. Without knowing who it is, begins to understand their relationships with a motley gallery of men: a corrupt politician, connected to drug trafficking and paramilitary groups, a bullfighter cunning and good for nothing, a boxer fallen on hard times with a force so stupid as rare Lotero intellect and an insightful blind. And in the midst of this, the dark threads entangling power to everyone, and especially the poor Fierro.
Breath of Life
1999
6.6It begins with the tragedy of Armero, during the course investigates the murder of a beautiful woman and on his way some people die in the end a killing and a cemetery. Emerson Roque Fierro, former policeman and private investigator shadowing, investigates the murder of "Golondrina", a beautiful young woman, occurred in a seedy hotel in downtown Bogota. Without knowing who it is, begins to understand their relationships with a motley gallery of men: a corrupt politician, connected to drug trafficking and paramilitary groups, a bullfighter cunning and good for nothing, a boxer fallen on hard times with a force so stupid as rare Lotero intellect and an insightful blind. And in the midst of this, the dark threads entangling power to everyone, and especially the poor Fierro.
Breath of Life
1999
NRExperimental film inspired by Andy Warhol's 'Sleep'.
Self-Portrait (Asleep)
1971
Video-survey with fixed camera about the Cali people. They are asked about different topics: happiness, money, innocence, love...
Cámara Ardiente
1991
Video-survey with fixed camera about the Cali people. They are asked about different topics: happiness, money, innocence, love...
Cámara Ardiente
1991
Video-survey with fixed camera about the Cali people. They are asked about different topics: happiness, money, innocence, love...
Cámara Ardiente
1991
NRThis two-part documentary series made for regional television captures a crucial moment in Cali and Ospina's relationship with its city: a crossroads where the break with the city of youth becomes inevitable and painful. The first part, Cali plane X plane, is a counterpoint of image and sound on the destruction of architectural heritage. The second, Goodbye to Cali / Ah, Goddess Kali !, brings together the opposing testimonies of local artists who have dealt with the theme of the city and the devastators who have insisted on destroying it.
Goodbye to Cali
1990
NRThis two-part documentary series made for regional television captures a crucial moment in Cali and Ospina's relationship with its city: a crossroads where the break with the city of youth becomes inevitable and painful. The first part, Cali plane X plane, is a counterpoint of image and sound on the destruction of architectural heritage. The second, Goodbye to Cali / Ah, Goddess Kali !, brings together the opposing testimonies of local artists who have dealt with the theme of the city and the devastators who have insisted on destroying it.
Goodbye to Cali
1990
NRHairdressers in Cali discuss life, work, dreams, beauty, fashion, and homosexuality. The filmmaker is having a haircut too. Second installment of the crafts trilogy.
At Your Head
1991
6.5The vengeance of a housemaid against the family that hired her.
Asunción
1975
6.5The vengeance of a housemaid against the family that hired her.
Asunción
1975
8.3A 13 minute glimpse of the Feria de Cali celebrated between Christmas and New Year… A carnival of commodity fetishism, red devils and white indians that will be recognizable to anyone who has encountered the surrealist ethnographies of Michael Taussig.
Cali: de Película
1973
9.3Faced with his imminent death from AIDS, Colombian artist Lorenzo Jaramillo looks back on his life and work through the five senses.
Our Film
1993
10.0Ten years after "Agarrando Pueblo", a reunion with one of its protagonists, a street fakir still doing the same show. After watching the film, he reflects on his life, his work, and his image.
Eye and Sight: Artist's Life in Danger
1987
NRA film about shoeshiners in the streets of Cali. A pure piece of direct cinema in the first installment of the crafts trilogy.
At Your Feet
1991
NRThe film adapts Jean-Paul Sartre’s short story Erostratus about a man on the verge of despair who decides to buy a gun and go out to kill at random. Shot in Los Angeles, this was Ospina’s first project at the UCLA Film School. Acto de fe (Redux) was restored from the original Kodak 16mm 4X reversal film of the 1970 version of Acto de fe. Some shots had to be replaced with outtakes from the camera original due to decay or total loss.
Act of Faith
1970
NRThe film adapts Jean-Paul Sartre’s short story Erostratus about a man on the verge of despair who decides to buy a gun and go out to kill at random. Shot in Los Angeles, this was Ospina’s first project at the UCLA Film School. Acto de fe (Redux) was restored from the original Kodak 16mm 4X reversal film of the 1970 version of Acto de fe. Some shots had to be replaced with outtakes from the camera original due to decay or total loss.
Act of Faith
1970
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Hay Que Ser Paciente
2015
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Hay Que Ser Paciente
2015
NRPortrait of the Colombian composer and pianist, one of his country’s most important classical musicians in the twentieth century.
Antonio María Valencia: Music on Camera
1987
7.0Documentary about the effects of the VI Panamerican Games in the city of Cali, seen from the point of view of the people that couldn't get into the stadiums.
Listen, Look!
1972
7.0Documentary about the effects of the VI Panamerican Games in the city of Cali, seen from the point of view of the people that couldn't get into the stadiums.
Listen, Look!
1972

