Songs that Flood the River

Oneida was a child when she learned how to sing “alabados,” traditional funeral songs used by Black communities in Colombia to secure their safe return to the realm of the souls. When she was eight years old, a snake devoured her left leg, leaving her to spend the rest of her life in a village set deep in the jungle. Then, as an adult, she survived the 2002 Boyajá massacre that decimated her community. Refusing to submit to the multiple traumas, Oneida fights her fears by writing songs that use the melody of alabados over lyrics that illuminate her reality. Her scars are the source of her strength, and her songs are the voice of thousands that fight for peace in one of the longest conflicts in modern history. Director Arango presents an elegiac feature debut that embraces its role in collective healing.