Luis Ospina

Directing

Luis Ospina

Born 1949-06-14 · Cali, Colombia

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.

Acting credits

The Stillness Syndrome poster
4.7

In 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

It All Started at the End poster
7.7

An 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

In Search of Maria poster
7.0

Based 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

Self-Portrait (Asleep) poster
NR

Experimental film inspired by Andy Warhol's 'Sleep'.

Self-Portrait (Asleep)

1971

Our Film poster
9.3

Faced with his imminent death from AIDS, Colombian artist Lorenzo Jaramillo looks back on his life and work through the five senses.

Our Film

1993

Bloody Flesh poster
7.0

August 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

A Ballad for Dead Children poster
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

Holy Beasts poster
4.4

Remembers 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

Jairo’s Revenge poster
NR

Jairo 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

The Manor of Araucaima poster
6.5

In 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

Ospina Cali Colombia poster
NR

An 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

Video (B)art(h)es poster
2.0

A video art piece that combines citations from the filmmaker’s first films with footage shot in India. It was commissioned by Colombian visual artist José Alejandro Restrepo and took inspiration from A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, by Roland Barthes.

Video (B)art(h)es

2003

Cines de Barriada poster
NR

Memories 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

Behind the camera

Chapter 66 poster
6.0

A wild short made as part of a filmmaking workshop that Raúl Ruiz ran in Bogotá in October 1993.

Chapter 66

1994

It All Started at the End poster
7.7

An 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

It All Started at the End poster
7.7

An 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

It All Started at the End poster
7.7

An 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

In Search of Maria poster
7.0

Based 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

Andrés Caicedo: A Few Good Friends poster
7.0

Using 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

Andrés Caicedo: A Few Good Friends poster
7.0

Using 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

Self-Portrait (Asleep) poster
NR

Experimental film inspired by Andy Warhol's 'Sleep'.

Self-Portrait (Asleep)

1971

Pure Blood poster
6.9

Roberto 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

Pure Blood poster
6.9

Roberto 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

Pure Blood poster
6.9

Roberto 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

The Vampires of Poverty poster
7.5

Two 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

The Vampires of Poverty poster
7.5

Two 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

The Vampires of Poverty poster
7.5

Two 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

Our Film poster
9.3

Faced with his imminent death from AIDS, Colombian artist Lorenzo Jaramillo looks back on his life and work through the five senses.

Our Film

1993

Silent Witnesses poster
10.0

Mudos 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

Silent Witnesses poster
10.0

Mudos 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

Asunción poster
6.5

The vengeance of a housemaid against the family that hired her.

Asunción

1975

Asunción poster
6.5

The vengeance of a housemaid against the family that hired her.

Asunción

1975

Goodbye to Cali poster
NR

This 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

Goodbye to Cali poster
NR

This 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

Breath of Life poster
6.6

It 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

Breath of Life poster
6.6

It 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

At Your Feet poster
NR

A 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