Besides competitive incentives and rates that can reduce production budgets by up to 50%, Columbia’s greatest asset is its talented film crew. They are known for their extensive experience, strong work ethics, friendly, can-do attitude, and are natural craftsmen with the ability to solve the most difficult problems.
Built through years of experience in the field and formal training for some, Colombia’s film industry has been involved in productions of all sizes, from feature films and commercial campaigns to television series and documentaries.
As more international productions choose to film on location in Colombia, the country has significantly grown its talent infrastructure. Netflix’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is the region’s most ambitious series, creating new talent both below and above the line.
Here are five sub-marginal talents to track (in alphabetical order).
Andres Barrientos, 1st A.D.
Named one of the 25 Gems of Colombian Cinema by the Colombian Heritage Film Council, Barrientos wrote and directed award-winning animated shorts before beginning work on live-action productions. There, I was promoted from Production Assistant and currently hold the position of 1st AD. There he will oversee set operations and filming schedules. “Some 1st Ads rule by fear, but others rule by love, and I support that. As my mother says, ‘Tough on facts, soft on people.'”
He recently worked on Zack Snyder’s The Last Photograph, and used his experience as an acting coach to ultimately land the role. Snyder’s fast-paced shooting style resulted in up to 68 setups per day. Barrientos’ other credits include working on a large-scale action scene in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and coordinating what could be Hollywood’s largest roadblock in Estonia, approximately six miles long.
He also works consistently as an acting coach, acting consultant, and casting director for acclaimed films such as the Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent,” “Birds of Passage,” and Laura Mora’s “The Kings of the World,” all of which feature several first-time actors. Next up: He’s currently writing the screenplay for his bilingual directorial feature debut, tentatively titled Salt in the Skin.
Wilmer Benavidez, Gaffer
His passion for filmmaking began at the age of 12, when he observed a wedding photographer and observed how moments were transformed into indelible images. Armed with her university studies in film and television, she began her career at the age of 19 as a camera assistant on the Colombian series “Parents & Children” (“Padres e hijos”). From there, he became an electrical assistant, lighting assistant, electrician and eventually became a gaffer for the past 11 years.
It was the creative side of the job that really appealed to him, he says, and he became deeply invested in leveraging his technical expertise to give directors more tools to realize their visions, helping them translate photographic concepts and create the visual moods they envisioned.
“My goal as a director is to not let the lighting draw attention to itself. The story is carried by the actors, and the light should act as a tool to highlight the actors in each scene.”
His credits include “K-dabra”, “Longboard”, “Fake Profile (“Perfil false”)” and “Always a Witch” (“Siempre bruja”).
“Every project has its own complexities,” he says. “Always a Witch had to contend with Cartagena’s ferocious winds, while Fake Profile required an elaborate lighting rig for the yacht chase. For the night scenes, we eschewed Hollywood’s saturated blue ‘night and day’ look in favor of softer, greener lighting that used color to emphasize the emotional language of the story.”
Carlos Fernando Vélez García, Location Manager, Line Producer
After 23 years in the audiovisual industry, including the last 10 years as a location manager, he has helped shape the profession in Colombia as international service production transforms locations into a specialty sector. “A location manager’s job is more than just finding locations to shoot,” he says. “It’s about moving the director’s vision into a real space, and making that vision possible through logistics, negotiation, and execution. It means moving the director’s and production designer’s vision into a real place, while working cross-functionally to oversee permitting, negotiation, logistics, and execution.”
His breakthrough came as location manager for Netflix’s “El Chapo” after learning from top international colleagues. Now, he believes that success depends on collaboration. “This is never the work of one person. Every place you see on screen is a team effort.”
No two pieces are the same. Season 2 of Jack Ryan taught us how to balance careful planning with the flexibility of managing two 300-person units, hundreds of extras, and an international cast. Topos required filming in storm drains and vulnerable areas, working closely with local communities and child actors. “Paddington of Peru” meant coordinating filming in remote rivers, jungles, and caves using an advanced drone camera system.
As Columbia attracts more period pieces, he believes preserving and adapting historic sites is one of the industry’s biggest challenges. “No matter the budget or size, my job is always to find a place to really bring the story to life,” he says.
Diego Gallego, director of photography
Gallego has become one of Latin America’s most popular visual storytellers. A graduate of Bogotá’s Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, where he studied journalism and visual media, he began his career in 2001, developing a visual style shaped by Colombia’s landscape, culture, and people. “My work is always connected to the place, people and emotions of the story,” he says.
His international breakthrough came with director Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent, which he considers his most challenging film. Shot in 35mm black and white in the Amazon rainforest, the film needed to create a timeless world where the spiritual and the physical coexist. “All the conditions that could have led to failure were in place,” he recalled, citing the remote location, limited transportation, natural light, small crew, and unpredictable weather. The film earned Columbia its first Academy Award nomination and multiple Best Cinematography awards for Gallego.
He continued his collaboration with Guerra and Cristina Gallego on “Birds of Passage,” which earned him major cinematography honors. His films include “I Am Not a Witch,” “Wildland,” “The Last Son,” “Butcher’s Crossing,” Cannes Camera d’Or winner “War Pony,” Emmy Award winner “Rebel Ridge,” “How to Become a Guinea Fowl,” and Netflix’s upcoming fact-based political thriller “Palace,” directed by Jeiro Bustamante, Edgar Neto and Samir Olivarez.
“Cinematography is about creating a visual world that serves the story,” he says. “The camera needs to not only show what happened, but also allow the audience to feel it.”
Cristina Medina Trujillo, Production Designer
Medina has spent over 25 years creating visual worlds for film, television and advertising. A graduate of Communication and Journalism from the University of Manizales, she began her career in film with “Paraiso Travel” and in television with “Hasta que la plata nos separe”. Since then, she has designed over 20 series for Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, ViX, Discovery Kids, and Nickelodeon, along with over 700 commercials.
“Production design is more than just building sets; it’s about telling a story through space, objects, textures, and emotion,” she says. “It’s the smallest details that make a set great. That’s where the truth of the story lies.”
Her career highlights include Netflix’s “Eva Lasting,” which recreated Bogota in the 1970s and 1980s for four seasons. “Consuelo,” a drama set in 1950s Mexico, was nominated for an Aura Award and a Produ Award for Best Production Design. Prime Video’s “Primates.” and Netflix’s Crime Diaries: Night Out, for which she was nominated for an India Catalina Award.
One of her biggest recent challenges was for Netflix’s “How to Lose it All” (“Cómo Perderlo Todo”), where she designed and built Colombia’s first aircraft set with a turbulence system. This is one of the largest and most complex structures of her career. She is also the founder of La Madame Coquette, a design studio and prop house dedicated to bringing stories to life through carefully crafted worlds.
