''Garras de oro'' (''Golden Claws''), also known as ''Alborada de justicia'' (''Dawn of Justice''), is a 1927 Colombian silent film.

Background

The direction of the film is credited to "P.P. Jambrina", which was a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

used by Alfonso Martínez Velasco, who became mayor of

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

between September 1930 to September 1931. The film is a fierce critique of United States policy towards Latin America, focusing in particular on the United States' backing of Panamanian separatists that led to the partition of the former Isthmus Department from Colombia. The film's opening

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

reads: "This film-novel is to protect from the oblivion of memory an important episode in modern history, which by fortune became the first stone in a landslide that tore apart our

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

and battered our eagles." It is believed that all actors and staff involved in the film employed pseudonyms in order to avoid the fallout from what in 1926 was still a very polemical subject in Colombia. The film was censored by the Colombian government upon its release. It subsequently faded from the public view and was thought

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

for decades. It was found and restored by the Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano, though only the film's beginning, end, as well as another three reels' worth of footage has been found. The restoration of the extant footage was screened in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2008, followed by a second screening at the

Guadalajara International Film Festival The Guadalajara International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara) is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara since 1986. The presence in Guadalajara of delegates from other impo ...

in 2009. The film has since been referred to as the first anti-imperialist film.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0257703 1927 films Colombian silent films 1920s rediscovered films Colombian black-and-white films Colombian drama films 1927 drama films Rediscovered Colombian films Silent drama films

Background

See also

References

External links