In 1906, four men were executed for attempting to assassinate Colombia’s president. Years later, director Federico Atehortúa Arteaga discovers the strange and improbable relationship between the failed assassination, his mother, and the origins of cinema in Colombia: a long history of violence.

Interweaving invaluable archive footage—personal and collective—to investigate his country’s systemic violence, Colombian debutant Federico Atehortúa unveils a striking correspondence between cinema and war. Mute Fire is a poignant reflection on how images produce memory, and memory shapes history.