Liborio

Starting with a poor farmer, this story ends in revolt. Olivorio (‘Liborio’) Mateo disappears without trace during a hurricane in the year 1908 in the south of the Dominican Republic. His family and fellow villagers think he is dead, but he suddenly reappears, returned from heaven on a mission. From then on, his prophecies and healing powers expand his group of followers, and he retreats with them into the mountains to start a commune in freedom. In seven scenes, Liborio manifests the spirit of this messianic figure and the people who are inspired by his lessons to this day. This sensory tale of the origins of a community that combines spirituality and the struggle for self-determination consists of multiple, interwoven perspectives. Immediately after its foundation, the community aroused the authorities’ suspicions and, after the 1916 American invasion, tensions developed into an armed struggle. Filmmaker Nino Martínez Sosa’s feature film debut unearths an underexplored part of Dominican culture and identity from collective memory. He visited villages where ‘Liborism’ is kept alive in ritual, prayer and song thereby connecting this dramatised history to the present. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)