Where the River Begins: The Jungle Decides

By Karen Reyes

Premiering at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, Where the River Begins (Donde Comienza el Río) drops the audience into a violent neighborhood of Bogotá, Colombia where Yajaira (Girleza Duave Cerezo), a young Indigenous woman, lives with her daughter María (Ana Michell Nama Dumaza) after being displaced by paramilitary violence from her Emberá village in the Chocó rainforest. At night, she’s haunted by fears of neighborhood violence and dreams of the jungle and village she left behind. When tragedy strikes, she and her daughter start on a journey back to the jungle with Jhon (Juan David Junca Linares), a young gang member who keeps his reasons for leaving Bogotá hidden.

Juan Andrés Arango’s third feature film captures an incredibly personal and honest story led by amazing non-professional actors, making the raw emotion that much more impressive. Each scene feels naturalistic and quietly beautiful, letting the viewer immerse themselves in the lives of the characters and, as a result, root for Yajaira and María from the get-go. The grief, love, hope, and perseverance that drive the characters comes through in understated yet powerful performances. The silly, awkward, painful, and sometimes even angry conversations between Yajaira and Jhon don’t feel like acting, but instead like we are voyeurs in their lives as they find a way forward. Yajaira’s unwavering strength and resilience as a single mother, Jhon’s protectiveness of her and María, and the peril and simultaneous aid that come from their neighbors and strangers feel true to life. 

The jungle scenes, in particular, point to the personal meaning of their trek as Yajaira and Jhon go through almost spiritual experiences. The jungle’s ambience, and the uncertainty that they will find what they’re looking for, bring another layer of solitude that pushes the characters to confront the truths they’ve been avoiding. Arango turns the environment into a character in itself; he personifies the jungle through Yajaira’s belief in its direct influence on their lives. This leads the viewer to step into the jungle with the characters as cautiously and with as much respect as they do. 

It isn’t until they’re deep into the journey that you realize how your heart swells and heals along with them as the poetic dialogue and harsh realities of Yajaira’s life hit home. Enhanced by her inner world, the jungle feels like a place for even viewers to learn something about themselves. One of the final shots in Where the River Begins is a striking, parallel image to how it began: with María standing in the water facing the now-gone house that Yajaira looked at from the same spot when she was a child. And when Yajaira’s phone dies—the last thing connecting her to the city—there’s a final feeling of letting go and giving herself over to the jungle as she passes down to María (and to the viewer) what Yajaira’s mother taught her: “The jungle helps you survive. The jungle helps you return. The jungle is the one who decides.”