Los Hongos

(Los Hongos)
Oscar Ruiz Navia | Fiction, Drama

2014 | 95 minutes | Colombia

During the day, street artists RAS and Calvin band together with other graffiti artists to paint a tribute to student demonstrators.

Synopsis

During the day RAS is a construction worker. At night after work he tags the walls of his neighborhood east of Cali. RAS can’t sleep and is constantly day-dreaming. His mother, María, a sweet woman who migrated to the city from the jungle on the Pacific side of Colombia, worries that her son has been bewitched and will end up insane.

When RAS is fired from his job for stealing several cans of paint, which he is using to create a huge mural on the lot next to his house, he searches the city for his best friend Calvin, another young graffiti artist, who studies fine arts but is having some difficulties due to his parents’ divorce and his grandmother’s recurring cancer.

Like a couple of mushrooms, RAS and Calvin will sprout and wander aimlessly through the city on a journey of no return, infecting the world around them with immense freedom and hope.

Reviews

"It is a true blessing that 'Los Hongos' avoids extreme violence or the low blow of unnecessary death. For contemporary Latin American cinema, this seems to be a genuine act of resistance to the imperatives of the global film market." - Diego Brodersen, Diario Página 12

Citation
Main credits

Ruiz Navia, Oscar (film director)
Ruiz Navia, Oscar (film producer)
Ruiz Navia, Oscar (screenwriter)
Bustamante Escobar, Diana (film producer)
Polanco Uribe, Gerylee (film producer)
Augusto Acevedo, César (screenwriter)
Marquinez Angulo, Jovan Alexis (actor)
Buenaventura Tascón, Calvin (actor)
Estrada, Atala (actor)
Ruiz Montoya, Gustavo (actor)

Other credits

Director of photography, Sofia Oggioni Hatty; editor, Felipe Guerrero; music, La Llegada del Dios Rata [and 5 others].


Citation
Cataloging
Keywords
Youth,social,Afro-Latin,Colombia,graffiti,friendship,family,death,latin america,art,street art,street,young people,best friends,urban studies,urbanism,community development,communities,urbanization,civic centers,satellite cities,residential areas,gentrification,barrioization,boomtown,bedroom communities,city block,city center,community displacement,white flight,walkability,zoning,housing,incorporated areas,unincorporated areas,suburbs,exurbs,inner cities,inner city,conservation,south america,south american countries,countries in south america,argentina,bolivia,brazil,chile,colombia,ecuador,guyana,paraguay,peru,suriname,uruguay,venezuela,south american politics,south american culture,south american cuisine,south american education,south america in media,south american languages,south america history,child,children,childhood,kid,girl,girlhood,boy,boyhood,teen,teenager,puberty,adolescence,adolescent,coming-of-age,minor,kiddo,kids,juvenile,stripling,moppet,tyke,tween,tot,toddler,sonny,girlie,underaged,dependent,youngster,infancy,babyhood,girlhood,boyhood,friendships,juvenescence,juvenility,springtime,early life,labor studies,employment studies,workers rights,workers’ rights,organizing,labor unions,trade unions,unions,industry,employment law,working class,labor rights,labor equity,employment,union organizing,labor organizing,labor rights movements,employment rights movements,workers’ rights movement,workers rights movements,afro latin america,black latin america,afro latino,afro latinx,afro latina,black latino,black latinx,black latina,afro latin,afro-americanism,afro-brazilian,afro-cuban,afro-haitian,afro-colombian,afro-dominican,afro-mexican,afro-puertorican,afro-honduran,afro-bolivian,afro-argentinian,afro-chilean,afro-peruvian,afro-nicauraguan,afro-guatemalan,afro-caribbean,diaspora,slave trade,visual arts,painting,drawing,printmaking,filmmaking,craft,crafts,architecture,ceramics,photography,video,videomaking,film,conceptual art,installation art,art exhibits,artmaking,photos,videography,sculpting,sculpture,theatre,theater,music,musicmaking,music performance,art styles,art history,plastic arts,fine art,fine arts,visual arts centers,visual arts education,jewelry,jewelrymaking,beaux arts,graphic arts,graphic design,abstract art,art galleries,art gallerist,galleries,gallery,gallerist,gallerists,illustration,criminal justice,crime,judiciary,police reform,corrections,criminal law,judicial system,justice department,prosecution,judgement,criminal law,courts and corrections,corrections institutes,culture,identity,identity politics,culture wars,left wing,right wing,intersectionality,identity groups,civilization,literacy,humanism,cancel culture,online culture,cultural revolution,cultural diffusion,culture shock,popular culture,pop culture,material culture,cultural capital,cultural assimilation ,economics,social class,money,capital,capitalism,class,economy,prejudice,intersectionality,inequality,poverty,income gap,wage gap,class warfare,elitism,snobbery,bourgeois,poverty,upper class,middle class,lower class,nouveau riche,Los Hongos,los hongos,Jovan Alexis Marquinez Angulo,Calvin Buenaventura Tascón,Gustavo Ruiz Montoya,Atala Estrada; "Los Hongos"; Pragda Films
Clips
No clips are available yet.
Festivals

Toronto International Film Festival; Locarno Film Festival

DIRECTOR: Oscar Ruiz Navia

NATIONALITY: Colombia

YEAR: 2014

GENRE: Fiction, Drama

LANGUAGE: Spanish

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adult

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

Existing customers, please log in to view this film.

New to Pragda? Register to request a quote.