PANOPTICON

World Premiere: Latin American Film Festival, September 10th 2010
Bogota International Film Festival, October  2011
Museum of Modern Art, Bogota, Colombia, March 2012
 

Colombia/Canada, 2010. 30 min English/Spanish
Directed & produced by Diego Samper
Photography & image manipulation: Diego Samper
Editor & Animation Design: jamie griffiths/Primal Divine Productions & Diego Samper
Composer, Sound Design & Audio Mix: Steve Wright

jamie collaborated with Colombian/Candian artist, Diego Samper, on an the photo-animation film 'Panopticon', working with him as editor and animation designer.

In the Colombian town of Ibagué, a prison for political prisoners was built in the late nineteen century, loosely based on a surveillance architectural design called Panopticon. This dreamlike, surreal animated video was created from the photographic images taken by Diego Samper in 2003, just few days after the buildings was emptied, previous to a complete renovation in order to house a new cultural center. It reveals a rich visual universe of prison art and, through it, aspects of contemporary Colombian social and political reality. But beyond that, it reflects on the principle of freedom. Is the Panopticon imprisoning freedom itself?