Colombia Enchanted in Memoria and Encanto

FQ columnist Manuel Betancourt uses the odd couple pairing of Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria (2021) and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto (Jared Bush and Byron Howard, 2021) to examine the cinematic representation of his home country of Colombia. Noting that his childhood cinephilia was nurtured by the foreign productions that dominated theaters, he observes that in the past few decades, bold new Colombian filmmakers have brought to the screen more varied visions of Colombia. Now with Memoria, a foreign filmmaker mines the country’s contradictions and, through his alienated and disoriented protagonist, invites viewers to embrace the unfamiliar in the world. In contrast, Encanto aches to create a kinship with Colombia by commodifying Colombian culture for mass consumption.