La Ola Verde (Antanas’ Way) tells the intimate story of Antanas Mockus’s eight-week campaign for the Colombian presidency in 2010 and the dynamics that this unique way of doing politics unleashed in a country just out of four decades of war.
This son of Lithuanian immigrants and former mayor of Bogotá led a fully transparent presidential campaign, which was unheard of in Colombian politics and defied all the stereotypes about a Latin American politician. Even more surprising was this unlikely candidate’s success in making it into the runoff elections along with establishment figure Juan Manuel Santos. Santos eventually won the presidency.
The Mockus campaign’s basic premise—revolutionary in crime-ridden Colombia—was that the rule of law is the best way forward for a country beset by the mafia. This ignited an unprecedented social movement in the country, with online frenzy and flashmobs throughout Bogotá and the rest of Colombia. The way he challenged the political establishment by leading an entirely transparent and open-source technology-based campaign is captured by director Margarita Martínez, who was granted exclusive access to the day-to-day workings of this unique campaign.
The documentary screening featured a post-film discussion with Martínez and the producer and former Open Society Fellow Juanita León. Bruni Burres, cofounder of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and an Open Society Fellowship selection committee member, moderates the discussion.
Speakers
- Juanita León, La Ola Verde Producer; Editor-in-Chief, La Silla Vacía
- Margarita Martínez, La Ola Verde Director
- Bruni Burres, consultant with the Sundance Documentary Film Program and with the Open Society Foundations U.S. National Security and Human Rights Campaign (moderator)
The film was funded in part by the Open Society Foundations.