Cartagena is preparing to receive moviegoers for the upcoming 61st Cartagena International Film Festival (FICCI), which presents its 61st edition this year. 

Felipe Aljure, FICCI's Creative Director, spoke with AL DÍA News and revealed details of what it has been like to organize the new edition of the festival after two years of a pandemic. 

"After these two years, the pandemic taught us the value of art," said Aljure, emphasizing that the two years were not a blow to creativity, but a space that opened new aspects of cinema. 

The festival's creative director also mentioned that from all that has been experienced amid the health crisis, "a new signature of dramaturgy on 'the plague' emerged. They are films made in a single location, but with very high quality about the events experienced." 

In addition to the virus issue, he said that many of the films presented at the Cartagena Film Festival are Colombian, and the festival has different sections dedicated to national cinema such as 'Fictions from here,' the Afro section, the Indigenous section, and the 'De Indias' section, which is dedicated to Cartagena productions. 

"This festival is the home of Colombian cinema," Aljure emphasized during his speech. 

In addition to Colombian films, FICCI 61 will also feature a showcase that includes productions from five continents, with films ranging from countries like Bangladesh and Spain, to South Korea and Australia, and all of Latin America. 

This version of the festival will be a meeting place for national and international film buffs, and where cinema meets current issues and culture. 

"The achievement of this festival will always be the ability it has to transform individuals, to immerse them for a week in other worlds with films, talks, academy talks, debates and more," said Aljure. "That's what these cultural events are for, to improve the smallest expression of democracies: the human being."