ONE WORLD | Carmela and the Walkers
(Équateur, 92 min)De Esteban Coloma, Luis Herrera
Screening as part of the ONE WORLD festival
Fifty-six-year-old Carmela lives with her husband and eight children on the Ecuador-Colombia border. As if that were not challenging enough, she devotes her time to helping thousands of Venezuelan refugees in her makeshift shelter. Her community and even her own family do not always share her enthusiasm, yet she refuses to give up in her efforts to help others. The pandemic and its disruption of daily life shake the system of assistance she has built. The film portrays the power of personal responsibility and care for others, sometimes to the point of seeming self-destructive. Ultimately, the reason Carmela must sacrifice so much is simple: there are very few people like her.
