Mother Earth’s Inner Organs

The first mountains that the Amsterdam-based Colombian artist and filmmaker Ana Bravo Pérez saw in the Netherlands were black. In this experimental work, she follows the stench of the coal in the port of Amsterdam back to its origin: an open wound in northern Colombia. The mine is located in the territory of the Wayuu and has a huge impact on the indigenous people.

Bravo Pérez combines various  styles and mixes Dutch, English and Spanish in the narration. Most documentary are the scenes where two Wayuu women talk about the impact of mining and about their spiritual bond with Mma—“Mother Earth”—although the film also shows that this translation doesn’t express the full meaning. The Wayuu treat Mma with respect and care, unlike the foreigners who extract coal to generate electricity. The scale of that extraction becomes apparent in a minutes-long shot of a seemingly never-ending freight train carrying coal.