Agricultural laborers in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, harvest a field of sugarcane using machetes. The camera keeps its distance as it observes their smooth movements. Soon the rhythmic movements of the machetes develop their own choreography, whilst time appears to expand.

Corta is an intensely rhythmic, starkly minimalistic, and photosensitive experience from Colombian director Felipe Guerrero. This gesture of cinematic purity somehow brings the Lumières back to life. The sugar cane harvesters could very well be those workers leaving the factory in 1895…