He magical realism of Macondo emerged again this Wednesday in Aracataca, the town in the Colombian Caribbean where he was born Gabriel Garcia MarquezNobel Prize in Literature in 1982, with the screening in his square, and for his people, of the first episode of ‘One hundred years of loneliness‘, the series of Netflix based on his novel of the same name.
With the world premiere of the series on that platform, Aracatacathe place where the writer was inspired to set what is considered the most important novel of the Latin American ‘boom’, concentrates the world’s attention thanks to the format audiovisual that reaches the public through the screens.
Framed in a sunset that felt cool after a hot day with 40 degree wind chills and next to the church of Saint Josephthe giant screen mounted in the square gathered a crowd of locals and visitors for the projection of the series inspired by the work of the most famous son of Aracataca and considered the most universal Colombian.
Gabriel García Márquez, who was born on March 6, 1927 in that town located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and died in Mexico City On April 17, 2014, he became an icon of world literature to the pride of Colombia and its countrymen.
Before today’s event, children and young people who were going to participate in the staging prepared for the occasion walked through the streets near the square disguised of gypsies, evoking the moment in which Melquiades and his tribe came to Macondo with the parchments where the history of the Buendías was written.
The ‘river of hammocks’
Located on the banks of the river that bears its name and which comes from a word in the indigenous language kogi which means ‘river of hammocks’, because of the nets that the aborigines hung between the trees to rest on its banks, Aracataca has a history that dates back to times before the arrival of the Spanish to what is now Colombia, but it is became known for being the cradle of the nobel.
For this reason, the launch of the Netflix series was the opportunity for some visitors to discover in Aracataca the places that are related to the life of Gabriel García Márquez and his literary work.
The house museum Gabriel Garcia Marquezthe House of the Telegraphist, the Railway Station and the Remedios la Bella Library, evoke the atmosphere of the magical realism that García Márquez captured in each of his novels.
Before the screening of the first chapter of the seriesthe director of Public Policies of Netflix for Latin America, Pierre Vandoornestated: “What better place than Aracataca to premiere the largest production that has ever taken place in Latin America, which is a history colombian“.
proud countrymen
While walking with a weary step through the rebuilt railway station, where a two-kilometer-long train loaded with coal stops while it passes by, the cataquero Gilberto Buelvas Villalobos80 years old, tells EFE that he feels proud to be a countryman of ‘Gabo’, whom he considers “the most important man who has given birth to this land.”
“Although Gabo was born 27 years before me, I was interested in the books he wrote, starting with ‘The leaf litter‘ and ‘The colonel has no one to write to him’, in addition to ‘One hundred years of loneliness‘ which is his most famous novel,” says Buelvas.
On the other hand, sitting next to a statue of Gabriel García Márquez, Bismay Pedriquewho lives a few steps from the Plaza de Aracataca, assures EFE that the writer “left a beautiful legend because the town would not be known if it were not for him.”
- The general director and co-founder of the Gabo Foundation, Jaime Abello Banfi, highlighted the importance of ‘One hundred years of loneliness‘ be brought to the screen, but clarified that there are differences between the two formats.
“‘One hundred years of loneliness‘will not cease to be a book, but now it is also a great cinematographic work, the most important that has been made in Latin America and it has a form typical of cinema of this timewhich is that of series“, he told EFE.
Abello invited to “think about the future so that Aracataca recognizes itself and reflects on how to prepare itself as a destination for cultural tourism and literary thanks to the global influence of interest and attraction of visitors to the territories of Macondothanks to the series of Netflix“.
