Spanish with english subtitles
2006 | USA-Colombia | Color | 48 min

Sanpachando (San Pacho es p´al que lo goce) explores the afro-ethnic, religious, and cultural meaning of a festival honoring Saint Francis of Assisi. Through music, dancing and first hand accounts, the documentary vividly encapsulates aspects of the social, religious, and political foundations that hold the festival together. It examines both its material and symbolic expressions. Musical montage, local commentary and interviews weave a narrative of survival, told from the perspective of a robust afro-cultural identity. Located in Quibdó, Chocó, (a city on the northern part of the Colombian Pacific coast) this community reveals a history of marginalization and resilience that contests its own segregation and exploitation. In this sense, Sanpachando offers a different vision of what it means to be and to feel Colombian.