Mauricia sits just inside her house by an open door, stroking her grandson's face, resting her hand on his, perhaps to feel closer to the world beyond her darkness. They sit together in silence bound to one another by her blindness. Her blindness is central to their relationship; Mauricia depends on Violin to help her navigate through the house, which also doubles up as a tiny village shop. When something needs to be fixed, Violin has to repair it. When a customer needs to be served, Violin attends.

Mauricia describes how she became blind, feeling an intense pain in her eyes and immediately losing her vision. She tells us that the only thing that has kept her going since is her love for her children. But she misses her sight to cut sugar cane - a job she's done all her life. The back door has fallen off its hinges so Violin finds a way to repair it, taking a machete to shorten it and ease its way. The house feels extremely fragile, a flimsy wooden structure built on stilts that could collapse at any moment. Their house is also weak and vulnerable to age. Sitting in their chairs by the front door once more, time seems suspended. A customer waits patiently by the counter to be served before Violin finally and reluctantly peels himself off his seat to assist.

We search Mauricia's skin and eyes for clues to how she imagines the world. The camera penetrates her, revealing the visual dimension missing from her world. Suddenly we hear footsteps and a child screaming. Could it be that Violin is not the perfect grandchild? Like Mauricia, we must use our imaginations and ears to reach our own conclusions. Violin might well have a violent side, one that we don't see. In Choco children know violence and are beaten by their parents. The cycle repeats. On hot dry days, Dona Mauricia likes to lie in a hammock in front of the house to find a breeze. It's Violin's job to hang the hammock and take her there. After a time he takes her back indoors. She needs the toilet and sits in darkness whilst Violin waits patiently outside. He guides her back but the door collapses from its hinges. The cycle repeats.

The metaphors are simple: Life, like this house, is fragile. People are blind in many ways, and domestic violence repeats itself from one generation to another. What seems like the perfect child may not be. The poverty and lack of basic medical facilities means it takes years for a woman like Mauricia to have a simple operation to restore her sight. Funds are stolen or diverted elsewhere - Colombia's war costs more than lives and trickles down to a simple operation that she cannot afford. African-Colombians and the indigenous in Colombia tend to suffer the most.

Selected for Planet In Focus International environmental Film & Video Festival, 2008, Toronto Canada

The film begins with several men marching into a silent town. 'Fear? I feel fear of suddenly being expelled from the place I live...' says an unconfident voice, an extract from an interview with Ayda.

The shadow of a world globe appears and a hand spins it like a roulette wheel, a game of fate. Where is the next place this girl will be forced to go? Which country is next to be hit by violence and turmoil? As a recurrent image throughout the film, the globe places the story in no specific geographical location. Displacement is local and global.

Played by non-actors the video begins when Ayda's body is found washed up on a beach. Her spirit threatens the town's adults but not the children who are the only ones who can see her while her wooden house is carried from place-to-place round the town. The house moves physically but also reverberates with a metaphorical and poetic vision of sadness and the rejection displaced people encounter in their search for security.

The sadness of the procession through the town turns into colourful dances, chants of liberation and the representation of war as human madness. This 'parade' acts as a vertebrae through which real interviews of violently displaced people and stunning images of nature are integrated to represent different types of loss as a result of this human tragedy.

ORISA reflects the story of millions of people in a melancholic, dramatic and beautiful way and shows not only the feeling of abandoning loved ones and the land, but also the shock and stigma of being displaced.

Supported by the Prince Claus Foundation

Niños PAZificos se realizó en enero del 2005 en Nuqui, choco en la costa pacifica colombiana y una de las selvas tropicales mas biodiversas del planeta. Niños y jovenes de las comunidades Afrodescendientes e indigenas de la region fueron invita dos a participar en talleres sobre Humanos Derechos, identidad, valores culturales y expesion corporal entre otros temas. Sasdos en historias reales y la fantasia de los participantes, y bajo la dirección de Diego y Fernando Arias se construyo el guion para la pelicula ORISA.