There is in this group of actors a natural relationship with risk and adrenaline, and that was what the director Laura Mora needed for The Kings of the worldthe award-winning Colombian film that can be seen in theaters from today.
She had already had contact with young people who practiced gravity bike in Medellín (also called whipping), and he knew that this energy had a lot to do with what he wanted for his proposal: freedom and rebellion. So she found the perfect protagonists to play the young people who decide to embark on a journey through Bajo Cauca, Antioquia, to reclaim a land that was taken from the grandmother of one of them: Andrés Castañeda, Cristian Camilo Mora, Davison Flores, Brahian Steven Acevedo and Cristian Campaña.
With them began the daily rehearsal sessions under the guidance of the casting director Karel Solei and with different collaborators and advisers in training of natural actors such as Carlos Fagua. (earth and shadow)Andres Barrientos (The Serpent’s Embrace Y summer birds) and the professor of dramatic art at the University of Antioquia, Duvan Echavarria (kill jesus).
The actors were never shared the script, but they did rehearse the situations to get closer to the emotions. “Each rehearsal, each meeting surprised the management team more. The talent, the capacity for imagination, improvisation, concentration and commitment of these boys was impressive”, they explained from the production.
The five young people were also accompanied by Alejandra Restrepo, a social worker, who acknowledges that the triumph of the work lay in the fact that both the production team and the children “understood the value and power of building horizontal and respectful relationships.” She highlighted that giving them confidence to assume responsibilities, recognition, activity and affection allowed a harmonious work.
“It is essential to enable them to transform their world. They, after this experience, already have illusions, because they had the comparison of what they are and what they can become, and that is something that they themselves can provide”, concluded Restrepo.
For Laura Mora, these five young people “printed on history their truth, their sometimes chaotic energy, their rebellion and their love for a world that they acknowledge to be hostile, but in which they want to remain. Their place of resistance is their joy and disobedience, even if the future seems uncertain.”
BRAHIAN ACEVEDO IS WINNY
The director had referenced it after a meeting of “gravitosos”, but it was still very small. She met him again in the Laureles neighborhood —when the police stopped her from continuing to sell sweets— and she contacted him. “He is 15 years old and he doesn’t like being called a boy because he says that all his life he has had to ‘war’ it.
CRISTIAN CAMILO MORA IS CULEBRO
He was casually interviewed at the stadium skatepark. “Tom knows very well the vicissitudes of the street and the conflicts between combos. There is an energy in him that infected Culebro with life, a character who seems condemned by himself, but who he filled with humanity”.
ANDRES CASTAÑEDA IS RÁ
He was the last to join. The casting director saw him for the first time during a search by the police. “He brought with him a certain tenderness, a paternal and loving attitude that contrasts with his strength. He has experienced all the harshness of the violence in the territory, but that has not overshadowed the nobility of his heart ”.
CRISTIAN CAMPAÑA IS NANO
Laura and Karel saw him on a court at the San José institution, where there are minors who have committed some type of minor crime. They saw in him a combination of shyness, mystery, and pride. “His shyness of him vanished and his good humor appeared, his kind and affectionate character.”
DAVISON FLORES IS SERE
He met Laura through a mutual friend. Years ago he had a gravity accident, which reduced the mobility of his right arm. “Her sensitivity of hers, her spirituality, her deep insights into life and death, matched everything she was looking for in that character.”