‘Somos’ (We Are): A participatory documentary on youth and peacebuilding in Colombia

What do the youngest in society think about Colombia’s much celebrated ‘transition to peace’? What is their idea of peace, and how do they see the peace negotiations between the government and the FARC-EP guerrilla? Shot during the last crucial months of the peace negotiations, this participatory documentary uncovers their side of the story. ‘Somos’ was realised by 24 Colombian adolescents as part of the ethnographic fieldwork of Oxford doctoral student Elena Butti. The young participants learned to use cameras and wrote the script to make their voices heard in this historical moment for their country. Their narratives draw a clear connection between domestic violence, drugs use, social discrimination, and youth violence. These are all interconnected structural problems that need to be urgently tackled if Colombia’s peace is to last. These youths’ message is clear: peace is much more than the absence of armed violence.

You can watch the trailer here.

Elena Butti is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies of the University of Oxford. Her research investigates the experiences of conflict-affected adolescents in the transitional justice and peacebuilding process in Colombia, where she conducted 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork. In Colombia, Elena has also collaborated with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). At Oxford, she is co-founder of the Oxford Children’s Rights Network, and a member of the Oxford Transitional Justice Research group and of the Oxford Network of Peace Studies.