Bogota,
Colombia April 9, 2001
Former gang member Angel Fabian Moreno (right) is now an actor on the
TV series "Pandillas: Guerra y Paz" (Gangs: War and Peace).
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Bogota,
Colombia, April 11, 2001
Gangs: War and Peace
Until recently, Angel Fabian Moreno waged war against gang rivals in
the Colombian City of Girodot. In a section of Bogota called Ciudad
Bolivar his colleague Ivan Aldana also belonged to a gang.
Today both youths are being paid to act out scenes reminiscent of their
former lives on the set of the Colombian Television series--Pandillas
Guerra y Paz (Gangs War and Peace).
The collaboration between the show's director Mario Mitrotti and Jose
Baquero, founder of Jovenes Con Futuro (Youth with
a Future), is giving some gang members opportunities for change.
Mitrotti likes the authenticity he gets using real gang members on the
set. However with the series in its 4th season and more than 80 episodes
produced, he must have kids who can act. "We put them through the
regular casting process. On this show I can't afford to waste time."
Pandillas, Guerra y Paz is set in Bogota's shantytowns. Sometimes filming
is done near actor Ivan Aldana's home in Ciudad Bolivar--the vast expanse
on the city's south side where 1.4 million people--mostly working-class
families and peasant refugees from the war--lose too many of their youth
to gangs.
Aldana never studied acting but he directed the street theatre program
for Jovenes Con Futuro. The pay was sporadic and he longed to work with
professional actors. "I reached a point when I was very depressed--totally
broke with my wife pregnant. Then Jose Baquero convinced Mario to use
some of us as extras," Aldana says. "I'm so grateful."
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