A family seen through the windows of a car on a tense road journey

A film by Juan Paulo Laserna

Not My
Name

A family travels under false identities,as a 10-year-old boy is asked to carry the lie.

Watch the trailer ▶
Colombia, 1996Feature dramaBased on true events
↓
01

The story

When survival demands a new name, what happens to the one you leave behind?

In 1996 Colombia, Álvaro learns that his beloved grandfather has suffered a stroke. His family must cross a country consumed by fear to reach him, traveling beneath identities that are not their own.

On the road, adult deception begins to corrupt Álvaro’s imagination, and as the family’s fault lines deepen, the boy drifts towards the very darkness they hoped to escape.

A family gathered beside their car under a red Colombian sky
Cattle crossing a Colombian landscape beneath a dramatic sky

The world of the film

A childhood shapedby a country at war.

In the 1990s, long road trips exposed Colombian families to sudden guerrilla kidnappings. Some traveled under false identities, knowing the youngest child, the one least able to lie, might be questioned for the truth.

Our story is inspired by one of these families.

The family

Four people.
One dangerous lie.

Fear does not enter a family all at once, it moves from parent to child, changing shape along the way.

Álvaro, a character in Not My Name
01

Álvaro10

A sensitive, perceptive boy forced to confront adult lies and danger. His innocence is tested by fear, secrecy, and a borrowed identity.

Ramón, a character in Not My Name
02

Ramón46

A father torn between survival and legacy. He tries to protect his family through control, while fear exposes everything he cannot say.

Victoria, a character in Not My Name
03

Victoria44

The family’s fragile conscience. Quietly rebellious and fiercely protective, she finds strength in a world ruled by harsher voices.

Luisa, a character in Not My Name
04

Luisa13

Sharp, defiant, and fiercely loyal. On the edge of adolescence, she searches for her own voice amid the family’s secrets.

A mother holding her son in the back seat of a car

Director’s statement

“Even when growing within privilege, a child doesn’t have a right to innocencein a world void of it.”

This story is rooted in the road trips I took as a child from Bogotá to Ibagué, never knowing what the road would bring. The false identities were real, and the anger they planted took years to understand.

Juan Paulo Laserna

Recognition

From a celebrated short
to a production-ready feature.

01

Focus Features Award for Social and Cultural Impact

02

Film Independent Fast Track

03

San Sebastián Meet Them

04

PGA Create Program

05

Film Independent Screenwriting Lab

06

Bogotá Audiovisual Market

Read the Focus Features Q&A ↗

The filmmakers

Stories of Latin America, told from lived experience.

Juan Paulo Laserna

Writer / Director / Producer

An award-winning Colombian filmmaker whose work blends magical realism, dark humor, and emotionally grounded drama to explore identity, conflict, and memory.

juanpaulolaserna.com ↗

Valeria Contreras

Producer

An award-winning filmmaker from the U.S.-Mexico border and a PGA Create, Film Independent Producing Lab, and Fast Track fellow.

valcontreras.com ↗