Kingdom of Thieves

"Society doesn't give me anything, so it can't expect anything in return" - is José's disillusioned statement. Neither him nor his gang members get anything for free in Cartucho, the most brutal quarter of Bogota, which at night is peopled by beggars, drug dealers, prostitutes, thieves and murderers. The Frenchman, Stanislas Guigui, experienced and recorded on film and photos over a period of two years, fights, friendships and survival in this milieu.

The series shown here is the second part of his work in Cartucho that was based in a photostudio. It portrays the protagonists of his films, people that nobody wants to see.

His assessment: every sprawling cosmoplitan city creates such social outcasts due to policies of merciless social exclusion.