The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) spread terror and pain for more than 50 years. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), a high court created by the Peace Agreement signed in 2016 between the Colombian State and the extinct guerrilla group to investigate crimes of the armed conflict, attributes 48,000 deaths, 54,000 forced displacements and almost 2,500 rapes to it.

The victims and their families fighting for justice are joined by men and women who have fought in the ranks of the guerrillas and are now trying to come to terms with their conscience in a country healing from a gaping wound.

Can you leave your past behind? This question has guided Colombian filmmaker Laura Angel and U.S. producer Noah DeBonis, who outline an answer in the voices of former guerrilla fighters Dayana, Ricardo and Alexandra. The first explores her identity as a transgender woman, the second has become a father clinging to his communist ideology and the third is a native teenager who left her family behind in the Amazon.

These testimonies shape the documentary Ajenos a la paz (Strangers to Peace), which in 88 minutes conveys the anxiety and fear of reprisals faced by all three in an environment that does not redeem them.

“It’s not easy to reach a society and have them understand that you’re not really a monster,” Dayana mentions in the film.

A terrifying experience

Ángel grew up in a country surrounded by violence and in a family that, while giving shelter to displaced people, suffered the dispossession of their land. However, this was not the experience that led her to investigate the armed conflict.

“When I was 23 years old, I was detained for three days and there I was able to see the reality of the situation more directly. I realized that not everything was black and white. That’s how I became curious about their (the guerrillas) stories and why they had arrived there,” she told AL DÍA.

The filmmaker says that the production has meant reliving fear, but at the same time opening a process of reconciliation and a door for more Colombians to discuss the social integration of former FARC members.

De Bonis, for his part, met his current wife by chance and accompanied her in the production motivated by a sensitivity that dates to his childhood.

“I have always been interested in telling stories about people who are trying to rebuild their lives in society. I grew up around people who were displaced, my parents worked in a refugee camp in Asia, and were close to victims of the Vietnam War. Growing up in that environment always led me to stories of rebuilding lives and what that process is like,” he said.

Available to stream

Ajenos a la paz had its world premiere at the 2022 Miami Film Festival, where it was runner-up in the Documentary Achievement Award category. It was also presented at the New York Latino Film Festival, where it won the Award for Excellence in Documentary Directing. At the Sherman Oaks Film Festival it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary, it got the same recognition from the University Film and Video Association.

The film is currently available on Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, iTunes and Apple TV in the United States and Canada.