Toto Vega (RIP) and Nórida Rodríguez at the beginning of Festiver
| Credit: personal archive.
Despite fifteen years of cultural resistance and uninterrupted annual programming, the Barichara Green Film Festival did not receive the public and private support required to carry out the festival this year.
Since its founding, Festiver has established itself as a fundamental driver for raising awareness about environmental care and natural resources, using audiovisual language as a transformative tool to educate, entertain, and build a sustainable future.
Amid the challenges and transformations of the film landscape, the Festival’s leadership opened its open call in May for productions with green-film stories under the slogan “What we care for today, we will have tomorrow,” which closed on July 26 and published the selected works on August 21 on its website https://festiver.org/el-festival/peliculas/.
However, these films will not be screened in Barichara this coming September.
Throughout its history, Festiver has been not only a space for film exhibition but a catalyst for economic, tourism, and academic development for the department of Santander and the country.
Its impact can be seen in the figures achieved over these 15 years. The screening of 1,123 films from 62 countries. The presence of more than 200 thousand attendees at in-person activities. The 371 academic activities; 15 editions of the Green Market featuring more than 700 artisans and entrepreneurs from across the country. 31 art and science exhibitions; 40 Campecine screenings that reached more than 10 thousand people from across 20 surrounding villages, as well as an average of 25 thousand monthly visits from 190 countries to the website.
15th edition recap
But its mark also remains in the questions it raised, the conversations it sparked, and the perspectives it helped transform, contributing to a more conscious and consistent humanity. In having planted ideas, encounters, and, literally, a forest: more than a thousand native trees that continue growing today in Barichara, like the seeds of change Festiver hopes to have helped germinate in those who passed through the Barichara Green Film Festival.
Regarding this edition’s development, Nórida Rodríguez, director of Festiver, emphasized adaptability and commitment to the audience and filmmakers: “we are evaluating the possibility of holding this edition online to ensure the content reaches our audience. The most important thing is not to turn off the screen of environmental cinema.“
The full history of the festival is available for consultation in the History section of its website.
Litza Alarcón
Communications Director
litza@festiver.org
www.festiver.org
