Juanita Onzaga

Juanita Onzaga (1991) is a Colombian filmmaker and visual artist currently based between Bogotá, Brussels and México. In her films, Juanita combines fiction and non-fiction elements, touching the (...) importance of memory, death and imagination, creating poetic tales that reflect different ways of perceiving reality within strong political contexts. Her work explores the crossroads between mysticism, ancestral knowledge, transformation of trauma from violent conflict, the dreamworlds, animism, futurism, technology and dance. Her first short film THE JUNGLE KNOWS YOU BETTER THAN YOU DO was premiered at the Berlinale Generation 2017 where it won the jury prize for best short film; the film was selected at San Sebastian, Cartagena, Busan and more than 40 festivals, obtaining the VAF wildcard and multiple awards. In 2018, her second short film OUR SONG TO WAR premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes Film Festival and was selected in more than 80 international festivals as Clermont Ferrand, IDFA, FNC, DokLeipzig, Biarritz, as well as being longlisted for the Oscars, nominated for L'Oeil d'Or at Cannes and winning multiple prizes. Her most recent short film TOMORROW IS A WATER PALACE recently premiered at International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2022 making part of the Ammodo Tiger competition and screened at the Museum of Modern Art of New York as part of Movies from Earth, the Museum of Modern Art of Paris and at Mor Charpentier Bogotá. Her storytelling creates within realism, an intimate quest for mysticism, where the invisible complements and gives more answers and meanings to the physical world. Currently she is developing her first fiction feature film THE LANDSCAPES THAT YOU SEEK supported by Hubert Bals Bright Future, in post production of an immersive VR-experience FLOATING WITH SPIRITS and developing a series of installations around ancestral futurism. She holds a bachelor in cinematography from IAD and a Master in Audiovisual Arts from Sint-Lukas Brussel, both titles obtained with honors. She is a Berlinale Talents alumni from 2018, has received the Vocatio grant in 2020 and has been a jury for festivals as Clermont Ferrand, Vienna Shorts, Mecal & El Gouna.