Where the River Begins follows Yajaira (Girleza Duave Cerezo), a young Emberá woman living in Bogota. At night, she looks at pictures of the river where her home village is, leaving there because of the violence. As it turns out, Bogota has its share of violence, enough for her to take the perilous journey back. Memories of home grow stronger the closer she is, taking daughter Maria (Ana Michell Nama Dumaza) with her. Maria gets sick, but Bogota gangster Jhon (Juan David Junca Linares) helps them, making Yajaira grow feelings. However, she finds out something about his past that makes her want to test him through the jungle.

Most of the scenes in this film capture less dialogue and instead, observe its characters inhabit spaces. Pardon how cheesy this is but Where the River Begins shows characters making homes somewhere else, perpetually rebuilding.

The cinematic, visual inconsistencies in Where the River Begins  makes me savour the times when it looks good. The jungle looks verdant, reflections showing on water that looks like it can swallow a person without difficulty. The script may be overmistifying the jungle although I’ll stay out of that discourse because I’m a settler. As films like this though, it blurs the realms of fanatsy and reality, familiar to most festival viewers. Thankfully, a film about violence only shows it sporadically, as if the world lies low, waiting for prey. Is this film inoffensive, sure, but it’s also so undeclarative that I already forgot its ending.