Killing Jesus

In Killing Jesús, director Laura Mora tells a brutal story based on her own life, and her film refuses to back away from hard realities in the Colombian society. It focuses on individuals and their journey, withouth ever amounting to a stereotypical portrait of the country and society.

Paula, a 22 years-old arts student in Medellin, becomes witness to the murder of her beloved father, who works as a professor at the same university. She escapes the bullets and manages to catch a glimpse of the killer before he disappears on a motorcycle. Paula is interrogated by the police, but with hundreds of unsolved murders the case goes cold real fast. So what happens when Paula meets her father’s killer, Jesús, on a night out, and must decide what to do when presented with the possibility of revenge?

Killing Jesús is shot scene-by-scene in chronological order, and has strong performances by the many non-professional actors, including Natasha Jaramillo as Paula. The camera refuses to let go of the main character, brilliantly depicting Paula’s growing doubt and confusion. Johanne Svendsen Rognlien

Laura Mora Ortega is a Colombian filmmaker from Medellín. She is the director of several shorts, such as Brotherhood (2006) and Salomé (2012), as well as select episodes from the TV series Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal (2012). Killing Jesús (2017) is her international feature debut.