(SIGNIS ALC). The Colombian production El segundo entierro de Alejandrino (The Second Burial of Alejandrino) directed by Raúl Soto Rodríguez won the SIGNIS Prize at the 9th International Documentary Film Festival of Buenos Aires (FIDBA).
Four years after his death, shaman Alejandrino Carupia visits his wife Teresa Bailarín in her dreams to tell her that he wants to be buried again. Upon the exhumation, Teresa is surprised to find his body mummified. Now, she must prepare the rituals to fulfil her husband’s wish to be buried in his hometown. At the same time, several members of the community fear that such action may cause Alejandrino’s spirit to transform into an “aribadá”, an entity that ruins the harvests bringing sickness and death.
This feature-length documentary brings us closer to the rituals, beliefs, feelings, spirituality of an ancestral Colombian community, who values the meaning of life and death, community and solidarity, and earth and nature. The viewer is invited to open up to a reality and a culture very different from their own. The figure of Teresa, the elderly wife, who follows her husband’s will and acts with faithful love, particularly stands out.
The members of the Jury were Anna Grebe (Germany), Father Luis García Orso (Mexico), and Adrián Baccaro (Argentina). For the second year in a row, SIGNIS took part in the festival with a Jury in the international competition.
