Catatumbo: House of Thunder, Memory, and Dignity
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Catatumbo is a subregion of Norte de Santander, on the border with Venezuela. Its jungles, mountains, and rivers shelter the unique Catatumbo Lightning, which lights the skies every night. Violence escalated in the late 1970s, when guerrilla groups like the ELN, EPL, and FARC increased armed actions with killings, kidnappings, and town takeovers. Between 1999 and 2006, paramilitary groups—the Catatumbo Bloc, the Héctor Julio Peinado Front, and the Motilona Resistance Front—left 99,074 displaced, 832 selective killings, and 599 massacre deaths. According to CNMH, over 59% of three decades of displacements occurred in that period. Child recruitment marked another wound: the Truth Commission documented 18,677 individual cases. By 2019, the National Information Network recorded 37,978 victims in Catatumbo, including 19,390 women. On January 16, 2025, clashes between FARC dissidents and the ELN in Tibú and El Tarra triggered another crisis. The UN reported 91,879 people affected, with 56,091 displaced to Cúcuta, Ocaña, and Tibú. UNICEF noted that 84,165 people were impacted, including 70,000 children and adolescents. Of them, 52,807 were displaced and 31,355 confined. Amid state neglect, coca cultivation became a survival strategy for many families, but it also exposed them to persecution, violence, and stigma. To speak of Catatumbo is to name its pain, but also the resilience of its people. Despite hardship, thousands remain standing. Sources: CNMH; UN/OCHA; UNICEF Colombia; Verdad Abierta; El País. Production Notes: This short film was created entirely using artificial intelligence tools for animation, narrative, sound, and editing, including Veo 3, Flow, Whisk, Gemini, ChatGPT, and CapCut. Credits – Short Film PLAY MOVIE (please click here)PLAY MOVIE (please click here)Title: Catatumbo: House of Thunder, Memory and Dignity Direction, Screenplay & Production: Jhonattan Sarmiento Art Direction & Animation: Generative AI (Veo 3, Flow, Whisk, Gemini, ChatGPT) Editing & Post-Production: CapCut Sound Design & Music: Generative AI, edited and mixed in CapCut
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Directed by Jhonattan Sarmiento. 7min 31sec
Jhonattan Sarmiento is a Colombian filmmaker and visual storyteller from Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, a northeastern border region between Colombia and Venezuela. His work is deeply influenced by territories marked by tension, memory, displacement, and resilience.
He holds a degree in Social Communication, a specialization in Journalism and Digital Communication, and a Master’s degree in Digital Communication. His practice bridges cinema, journalism, and emerging technologies, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence as a tool for visual and narrative exploration.
Sarmiento’s films explore inner emotional states, collective memory, fatigue, anxiety, and social fracture, often using metaphor, restrained visual language, and hybrid forms. Rather than centering technology as spectacle, his work uses AI as a cinematic instrument to externalize experiences that are usually invisible or difficult to represent through conventional means.
Filmography & Recognitions
E-RIAL (2025)
Short Film
Winner – Best AI Short Film, Villa de Leyva Film Festival “Villa del Cine”, 11th Edition
(Villa de Leyva, Colombia, 2025)
Honorable Mention, Water Film Prize: Back to Our Future
(Washington, USA, 2025)
Official Selections:
Babul Eco Film Festival (Hyderabad, India, 2026)
Filmmakers Sessions – Volume 2 (Pinewood Studios, UK, 2026)
Videograma 4 – International Video Art Festival (Bogotá, Colombia, 2026)
Toronto Global Film Festival (Toronto, Canada, 2025)
Miami Art Tech Summit (Miami, USA, 2025)
Festival Internacional de Cine con Medios Alternativos – FICMA (Mexico City, Mexico, 2025)
MIXED* (Portland, USA, 2026)
Festival Internacional de Cine de Tequila (Tequila, Mexico, 2026)
Colombia, un poema de versos vivos (2025)
Short Film
Official Selection
Festival Cortos Para Tiempos Largos
(Pereira, Colombia, 2025)
Catatumbo: Casa del Trueno, Memoria y Dignidad (2025)
Short Film / Documentary Essay
Official Selections:
Colortape International Film Festival (Brisbane, Australia, 2026)
AI Artist (Beijing, China, 2025)
Transcinema International Film Festival (Peru, 2025)
Bellavista Film Festival (Cartagena, Colombia, 2025)
Cine en mi Barrio (Popayán, Colombia, 2025)
CortoCircuito Film Festival – The Latino ShortFest of New York (New York, USA, 2025)
Filmmaker Sessions – Volume 1 (Pinewood Studios, UK, 2025)
MIXED* (Portland, USA, 2026)
Festival de Cine de la Universidad del Tolima (Ibagué, Colombia, 2025)
Recognitions:
Nominee – Best Experimental Short,
Aawaz Suno Pahadon Ki Film Festival (Dehradun, India, 2026)
Finalist – Best AI Narrative Short,
All That Moves International Film Festival (São Paulo, Brazil, 2026)
El Museo del Cansancio (2025)
Short Film
Awards & Recognitions:
Special Jury Prize,
21st Rengo International Film Festival (Rengo, Chile, 2025)
Jury Award,
The 7th Hainan Island International Film Festival – Lenovo AI Film Season
(Hainan, China, 2025)
Official Selections:
La Mida No Importa (Barcelona, Spain, 2026)
Filmmaker Sessions – Volume 12 (Pinewood Studios, UK, 2025)
BAIFF – Burano Artificial Intelligence Film Festival (Venice, Italy, 2026)
LifeArt Festival (Los Angeles, USA, 2026)
The Brazilian International Independent Film Festival – BIIFF
(Dublin, Ireland, 2025)
AI Video Awards – Dutch AI Week
(Breda, Netherlands, 2025)
MIXED*
(Portland, USA, 2026)
478 (2026)
Short Film
Premiered in 2026
AI-assisted short film exploring anxiety, internal tremors, and breathing as cinematic structure
Current Focus
Jhonattan Sarmiento continues to develop projects that explore mental health, memory, and contemporary human experience, combining cinematic language with AI-assisted workflows while maintaining strong authorial control and ethical awareness.
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