Ecuador Film Festival Features Documentary on 80’s Guerrilla Movement

The 14th edition of Ecuador’s national and international film festival, “Encounters from the Other Cinema” (EDOC), is now underway throughout the country. A total of 21 films will be projected and workshops will be held on a variety of topics. The festival is creating a space for national and foreign documentaries to be enjoyed by the public and to promote the continued growth of this media. The film that is generating the most debate and will close the festival is “¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!” (Alvaro Lives, Damn It!) which tells the story of the revolutionary guerrilla group by the same name that was active from 1983 to 1991 in Ecuador. Directed by a former member of the group, the film uses testimonies of ex combatants to portray the armed struggle, state terror, and the downfall of the movement. Filmmaker Mauricio Samaniego says it is important to unmask repression so it will never happen again, so the government cannot act outside the law. Former member Marco Troya says ex combatants agree that their struggle was just and that both responsibility and commitment are now needed in the ongoing construction of the country. Liz Scherffius reports from Quito for teleSUR.