Today, Mr and Mrs Smith is best remembered as the point at which the so-called Brangelina media circus was born. Less well known, however, was the way the 2005 action thriller generated a minor political storm in Colombia, where the assassins played by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie meet for the first time.
A top-ranking official in the capital, Bogota, sent a letter to the film's director, Doug Liman, protesting the depiction of the city as 'dominated by poverty, depressed, disorganised, with high levels of violence; totally chaotic and not attractive at all'.
Liman's view reflects how the country is commonly perceived by non-Colombian filmmakers, says Ciro Guerra, one of the brightest directorial hopes in Colombian cinema. 'It always has to do with violence - so you have foreign movies with kidnappings and drugs and all that,' he says.
'Like Mr and Mrs Smith: they show Bogota as a village with no pavement, it's a hot place and people are crazy. I think it's the audiences who are more insulted - we filmmakers just find it funny.
'There's a debate here because many Colombian films also deal with the issues of drugs and violence. The film community thinks it's important to deal with these subjects, but we've come to a crossroads: either you make television comedies or films about drugs and stuff like that.
'But I think there's something else, a country which has remained unexplored; a country in which 60 to 70 languages are spoken. There are many stories to tell. It's about time Colombian cinema looked at these stories. They are universal, they can appeal to anyone, and they can take you to places you've never been.'
Guerra's new film ventures into the rural, northern reaches: The Wind Journeys chronicles the trip undertaken by accordion player Ignacio (played by real-life juglar, or minstrel, Marciano Martinez) as he tries to return his instrument - one adorned with a bull's horns and supposedly touched by magic - to its rightful owner. Accompanied by restless teenager Fermin (Yull Nunez), who hopes to become Ignacio's apprentice, he treks through majestic landscapes and engages in regional rituals, such as a dazzling musical duel with a rival virtuoso. The journey also has a spiritual nature, as Ignacio is forced to confront his past misdeeds, while Fermin goes through his rite of passage towards adulthood.
