Andrés Caicedo: A Few Good Friends, The Artist's Documentary After 45 Years After His Death

45 years ago, Andrés Caicedo, took 60 pills of a drug. They found him on his typewriter and with a copy of ¡Viva la musique! , his only novel, which he received that same day, on March 4, 1977.

Andrés Caicedo had already tried to commit suicide in 1976, in one of those attempts he left a letter to his mother asking him to understand his death and that “he was not made to live longer”.

He was 25 years old and had already written numerous plays, stories, film reviews, maybe he was in a hurry, after that age to live was dishonest, as he said. Perhaps it was so, that pursuing his words he sought an effervescent honesty under the sun of the Cali of the seventies, he became the mythical image of the so-called Cali group.

When he died, his work must have been forgotten, kept in some trunk in the house of Andrés's parents, reserved as some other curiosity in the Caicedo family, but it was thanks to a few good friends that today 45 years later at the Cinematheque in Bogotá will hold a discussion in which the documentary Andrés will be screened. Caicedo: A few good friends.

The documentary was directed by the Colombian film director and close friend of Andrés, Luis Ospina, in which the writer and film critic's friends reflect on his life, work and suicide. It also includes excerpts from the film Angelita and Miguel Ángel (1971), by Andrés Caicedo and Carlos Mayolo.

The tribute discussion took place at the Cinematheque in Bogotá on Wednesday, March 16, on the YouTube channel of the Cinemateca.

It was a space in which the company of Rosario Caicedo, Sandro Romero and Juan David Correa talked about this work in dialogue with the commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the death of Andrés Caicedo, his life and work.

His sister, social worker and cultural promoter, Rosario Caicedo, who has been responsible for preserving and making her brother's work known throughout the country, has also been a jury jury at film festivals and has given lectures on Andrés's work in multiple cities in Colombia and abroad.

Sandro Romero Rey is a writer, theater director, director, screenwriter and producer of radio, film and television. Together with Luis Ospina he compiled Caicedo's posthumous work. He has also received several awards and mentions for his cinematographic, literary and theatrical work. His audiovisual productions include documentaries Bestial Sound (2012) and El Teatro La Candelaria: 1950s. Collective recreation (2016). Collaborator with filmmakers such as Luis Ospina and Carlos Mayolo.

He has published the novels Prayers to a Virgin Film (1993), The Fear of the Dark (Alfaguara, 2010) and Amphitheater (2019); the collection of short stories The Ceremonies of Desire (2004); the book of essays Memories of a Cinephilia (Andrés Caicedo, Carlos Mayolo, Luis Ospina) (2015); the chronicles Clock Around The Rock (chronicles of a fatal fan) (2009)) and Stone on Stone (Confessions of a Rolling Stones Addict) (2016).

Finally, the panel was completed by Juan David Correa, cultural journalist, columnist, editor and director in print media such as El Espectador, Cromos, Semana and Arcadia. He is currently the literary director of Grupo Planeta in Colombia, which in recent years has published a reissue of Caicedo's work, in addition to the publication of his correspondence.

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