He lives at the top of the world, I think as I climb the hills of Bogota to his studio.   In a sliver of the window of his modest work space, the whole of Bogota is laid out beneath me.  I wonder how this affects the Bogota native’s work; which is dark, profound and futuristic in nature.

Film Director, Andres Barrientos

In a city where chance meetings are common, I had the good fortune to sit next to a charming and attractive young man at a friend’s dinner party.  As we made the usual small talk, he mentioned that he was a filmmaker.

Now, growing up in California, I had met my share of ‘filmmakers,’ all of who were the self-proclaimed ‘next Scorsese’ or ‘Tarentino’, and all of whom were waiting tables.  So we talked about YouTube and the like, along with one of his current projects, while I remained mainly grateful for the timely rescue his appearance made from the boorish oaf on the other side of me.  He was interesting and charming enough that I offered to interview for him for my modest little blog.

Imagine my surprise to find out that he’s not the next Clint Eastwood.  Or even Tarentino. No, he’s the Andres Barrientos, one of Colombia’s youngest critically acclaimed directors with over fifteen films (and numerous awards) to his credit.   Despite my appalling lapse, he was delightful, kind and prompt.  (The last is especially notable in Colombia, where time has its own interpretation.)

Andres Barrientos, working in his studio

It will take several days to unravel the complexities of Mr. Barrientos and his work – but I’ll be talking more about him and the three projects he is currently working on over at the Examiner.com.

Update: the full article can be seen here.