We are pleased to invite you to the free screening of “Letter to a Shadow” followed by a Q&A session with Hector Abad Faciolince.
In 2006, Héctor Abad Faciolince published Oblivion: A Memoir (in Spanish as El olvido que seremos ), a harrowing account of the life and death of his father Héctor Abad Gómez, a Colombian pioneer in the field of public health and a vehement defender of human rights, who was assassinated in cold blood by a hitman on the streets of Medellín in 1987. The documentary reconstructs the story of the book by delving into the most intimate spaces of the Abad family and relying on a valuable family archive. Between personal memory and historical memory, in “a battle against forgetfulness, against oblivion”, Letter to a Shadow presents a chilling portrait of the political violence that plagued Colombia and produces an x-ray of Colombian society from the privacy of the mourning of the Abad family.
Documentary film. 73 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Directors: Daniela Abad and Miguel Salazar.
Simultaneous Spanish – English interpretation available to a limited number of attendees. Please let us know if you need this service.
Generously supported by the Jackman Humanities Institute and the Department of History at the University of Toronto, as well as the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) at York University.