Architectures of Honest Forgery: Jorge Caballero on the Synthetic Archive of 09/05/1982

A deteriorated celluloid reel, purportedly recovered from 1982, flickers with a succession of quotidian scenes, among which a few fragments appear to testify to violent events that took place on May 9 of that year—until it doesn't. In 09/05/1982, Colombian filmmakers Jorge Caballero (Paciente) and Camilo Restrepo (Los Conductos) present a succession of quotidian scenes that slowly reveal fragments of a violent, fictionalized tragedy. Produced by Artefacto, the film arrived at the 63rd New York Film Festival’s Currents program last September as a formally daring provocation probing the fragility of historical memory and the ways in which images are mobilized to shape it.