Colombia One -- The Movie!

Ned Chalker

When the Peace Corps was founded in 1961, Colombia was the first country chosen to receive volunteers. After two months’ training at Rutgers University, the 62 male volunteers of Colombia One arrived in Bogotá in August, 1961–assigned to work as rural community organizers.

In Colombia they were christened Los Cuerpos de Paz–literally, the Peace Bodies. As the first volunteers they got a lot of press but nobody quite knew what to make of them. Assigned to remote rural communities, they were on their own, and so were able to create their own projects—many of which have left their mark fifty years later. But, of course, two years in Colombia left its mark on all of them as well.

A new film by Bruce “Pacho” Lane uses archival footage and interviews to retell their volunteer experience. Starting with the founding of the Peace Corps, Colombia One includes visits with several returned volunteers to show how their subsequent careers reflect their Colombia experience. There is footage of the group’s return to Rutgers last year on the 50th anniversary of their training to place a memorial plaque; and they will be filmed as they participate in the coming celebrations in Washington, D.C. this September. The film will end with the 2008 reunion and conference in Cartagena, which led to the return of the Peace Corps to Colombia after 30 years.

Lane, the producer/director, has had a long career teaching cinematography and producing films. He hopes to complete this one by the end of 2011. So far, he has underwritten much of the film himself. Your help is needed to complete it. Contributions can be made directly to Pacho Lane, Ethnoscope Film & Video, P.O. Box 92353, Rochester, NY 14692. (585) 442-5274, pacho@docfilm.com. His website is www.docfilm.com.