In 2014, filmmaker Andrés Baiz on the Troncal del Caribe, a highway that runs through much of northwestern Colombia, saw a ‘Caravan of Death’, a group of cars and trucks that carry smuggled gasoline from Venezuela to Colombia. That was the starting point of Pimperinero: blood and gasolinePrime Video movie that It premiered on October 10 in Colombian cinemas. and later it will reach the platform.

“We went ten years later, after writing a script with María Camila Arias and creating these characters, I said ‘I have to film in La Guajira, which is where I conceived the story’, but it is very difficult because it is a region with little infrastructure and we We had 300 people to hydrate, to feed. We had many stage vehicles, motorcycles, trucks, but hey, teamwork. We did it,” Baiz, who is the director, producer and co-writer of the film, told PRODU.

Pimperinero: blood and gasoline It is the Colombian’s fourth film (Satan, The hidden face, Long), and the experience qualifies as “reconnecting with cinema” because it is the first to launch after ten years in which he has made series for the platform, such as Narcos, Griselda o The Sandman.

STORY THAT SEEKS TO CONNECT

This film that, in the midst of the dangerous job of a gasoline smuggler, tells a story of love and family ties, has the particularity that it is one of the first films in Colombia, produced by Prime Video (with services from Dynamo). , is released first in theaters and will then be available on the platform, something that for Baiz is due to the capacity it has Pimperinero: blood and gasoline to connect with the public.

Pimperinero: blood and gasoline stars Laura Osma, Alejandro Speitzer, Alberto Guerra and Juanes

“It is not a niche film, it is not a film that depresses you or is difficult to watch. It’s visceral, it shakes you, but there’s also a love story. There is a deep journey, there are beautiful locations, but the most important thing is that it is exciting. So, from the beginning we knew, and Amazon knew it, that it was a film that deserves to be shown and hopefully people can go see it. And, of course, later on Prime Video we will also revisit it and have it seen around the world.”

He affirms that in Colombia, thanks to the two laws of tax incentives for audiovisual production that exist, high quality films and series have been made, but maintains that the great challenge is for the public to see these productions. “We need the Colombian films that are released in theaters to be more welcomed by the public. I hope that Pimperinero: blood and gasoline It could be the one that has that rebirth,” he says.

LATIN AND DIVERSE TALENT IN PIMPINERO

The story stars Colombians Laura Osma and Juanes (who is making her film debut), Mexican Alejandro Speitzer and Cuban Alberto Guerra. They are complemented by a group of Colombian actors including Juan Sebastián Calero, Emilia Ceballos, David Noreña, Ivonne Gómez, Johan Rivera, Inés Prieto, among others.

Baiz highlights that thanks to his experience as a director and producer of series, he likes and is used to working with Latin American talent: “I’m not worried about the accents, but rather the inner truth and whether they are good actors or are suitable for that role. I like to form different casts, that feel different, that are not the usual suspects.”

Alejandro Speitzer, Andrés Baiz, Laura Osma Javiera Balmaceda and Juanes during the presentation of the film

Likewise, it highlights the work behind the scenes, such as that done by the production designer, Angélica Perea, and her team. The film was filmed in towns in northern Colombian departments such as La Guajira, Cesar, Magdalena, among others where film shootings are not common, but which will surely be strengthened as a destination for audiovisual production after this film.

“They built sets in the middle of the desert, huge sets that look totally real. A ranchería, the gasoline yards, the street where they sell gasoline. Don Carmelo’s house, the interiors of that house. In other words, here 90% of everything is built and the challenge of doing it there is enormous. In the middle of the distant desert, bring materials, people so that they can build in the middle of the heat with tremendous dust. But the Wayuu community also opened the door to us and allowed us to use these beautiful locations that belong to them” concludes Andrés Baiz.