Beyond its competitive incentives and rates that could shave as much as 50% off a production budget, Colombia’s greatest assets are its exceptional film crews. Renowned for their depth of experience, strong work ethic and friendly can-do attitude, they are natural born artisans, capable of solving the trickiest of problems.
Built through years of on-set experience and formal training for some, Colombia’s film trade has worked across productions of every scale – from feature films and commercial campaigns to television series and documentaries.
As more international productions opt to shoot on location in Colombia, the country has grown its talent infrastructure in spades. Netflix’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” its most ambitious series in the region, has spawned a generation of new below and above-the-line talent.
Here are 5 Below-the-Line Talents to Track (in alphabetical order):
Named one the 25 Gems of Colombian Cinema by the Colombian Heritage Film Council, Barrientos wrote and directed award-winning animation shorts before he started working on live action productions. There he rose up the ranks from production assistant to his current position as a 1st AD. where he oversees set operations and shooting schedules. “There are some 1st Ads who rule by fear, while there are those who rule through love, which I favor. As my mother says ’Go harsh on facts, easy on people.’”
He recently worked on Zack Snyder’s “The Last Photograph,” where he ended up playing a role, given his acting coach experience. Snyder’s fast-paced shooting style meant up to 68 set ups in a day. Barrientos’ other credits include Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” where he worked on big action scenes, coordinating what could still be Hollywood’s largest road lock-up -nearly six miles- in Estonia.
He has also worked invariably as an acting coach, acting consultant and casting director on such acclaimed films as the Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent,” “Birds of Passage” and Laura Mora’s “The Kings of the World,” all involving several first-time actors. Up next: He’s now writing the script for his bi-lingual directorial feature debut, tentatively titled “Salt in the Skin.”
His passion for filmmaking took off at age 12 while observing a wedding photographer and observing how moments turned into indelible images. Armed with his university studies in Film & TV, he began his career at 19 as a camera assistant on the Colombian series “Parents & Children” (“Padres e hijos”). From there, he became an electrical assistant, a lighting assistant, an electrician and eventually a gaffer for the past 11 years.
What really drew him in was the creative side of the job and he became deeply invested in using his technical expertise to give directors more tools to realize their vision – to help translate their photographic concepts and create the visual atmosphere they imagine, he relates.
“As a gaffer, my goal is for the lighting not to call attention to itself. The story should be carried by the actors, with the light serving as a tool that helps them stand out in each scene.”
Among his credits are: “K-dabra,” “Longboard,” “Fake Profile (“Perfil falso”) “and “Always a Witch” (“Siempre bruja”).
“Every project has its own complexities,” he says. “’Always a Witch’ meant battling Cartagena’s fierce winds, while ‘Fake Profile’ required elaborate lighting rigs for yacht chases. For night scenes, he avoids Hollywood’s saturated blue “day-for-night” look, favoring softer, greener lighting that uses color to reinforce the story’s emotional language.
Carlos Fernando Vélez García, Location Manager, Line Producer
After 23 years in the audiovisual industry, including the last decade as a location manager, he has helped shape the profession in Colombia as international service productions transformed locations into a specialized department. “A location manager’s job goes far beyond finding places to shoot,” he says. “It’s about translating the director’s vision into real spaces while making that vision possible through logistics, negotiation and execution. It means translating a director and production designer’s vision into real locations while overseeing permits, negotiations, logistics and execution across departments.”
His breakthrough came as location manager on Netflix’s “El Chapo,” after learning from leading international colleagues. Today, he believes success depends on collaboration. “This is never a one-person job. Every location you see on screen is the result of a team.”
No two productions are alike. “Jack Ryan” Season 2 taught him to balance meticulous planning with the flexibility to manage two 300-person units, hundreds of extras and an international cast. “Topos” required filming in storm drains and vulnerable neighborhoods while working closely with local communities and child actors. “Paddington in Peru” meant coordinating shoots in remote rivers, jungles and caves using advanced drone-camera systems.
As Colombia attracts more period productions, he sees preserving and adapting historic locations as one of the industry’s greatest challenges. “No matter the budget or scale,” he says, “my job is always to find the place where the story can truly come to life.”
Gallego has become one of Latin America’s most sought-after visual storytellers. A graduate of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá, where he studied Journalism and Visual Media, he began his career in 2001, developing a visual style shaped by Colombia’s landscapes, cultures and people. “My work is always connected to the place, the people and the emotions of a story,” he says.
His international breakthrough came with 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 required creating a timeless world where the spiritual and physical coexist. “We had all the conditions that could have led to failure,” he recalls, citing the remote location, limited transportation, natural light, small crew and unpredictable weather. The film earned Colombia’s first Academy Award nomination and multiple best cinematography awards for Gallego.
He continued his collaboration with Guerra and Cristina Gallego on “Birds of Passage,” earning major cinematography honors. His credits include “I Am Not a Witch,” “Wildland,” “The Last Son,” “Butcher’s Crossing,” Cannes Camera d’Or winner “War Pony,” Emmy-winning “Rebel Ridge,” “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” and Netflix’s upcoming fact-based political thriller “Palace,” directed by Jayro Bustamante, Edgar Nito and Samir Olivares.
“Cinematography is about creating a visual world that serves the story,” he says. “The camera should not only show what happens – it should help the audience feel it.”
Medina has spent more than 25 years creating visual worlds for film, television and advertising. A graduate of the University of Manizales in Communications and Journalism, she began her career in film with “Paraíso Travel” and television with “Until Money Do Us Part” (“Hasta que la plata nos separe”). Since then, she has designed more than 20 series for Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, ViX, Discovery Kids and Nickelodeon, along with over 700 commercials.
“Production design is not just about building sets; it’s about telling stories through spaces, objects, textures and emotions,” she says. “The smallest details are what make a set great. They are where the truth of a story lives.”
Her career highlights include Netflix’s “Eva Lasting,” recreating 1970s and 1980s Bogotá across four seasons; “Consuelo,” a 1950s Mexico-set drama that earned Aura and Produ Award nominations for Production Design; Prime Video’s “Primate”; and Netflix’s “Crime Diaries: Night Out,” which earned her an India Catalina Award nomination.
One of her biggest recent challenges was Netflix’s “How to Lose it All” (“Cómo Perderlo Todo”) where she designed and built Colombia’s first aircraft set equipped with a turbulence system – one of the largest and most complex constructions of her career. She is also founder of La Madame Coquette, a design studio and prop house dedicated to bringing stories to life through carefully crafted worlds.