María Fernanda Restrepo Arismendi is a documentary filmmaker and producer born in Quito to Colombian parents. She studied Journalism and Film and Television Production at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Her work is rooted in audiovisual and journalistic practice, documentary directing, cinematography, and a strong social and human commitment that has shaped her place within Ecuadorian and Latin American cinema.
Her first feature documentary, With My Heart in Yambo, recounts the disappearance of her brothers Santiago and Andrés and her family’s long struggle to clarify the truth behind the crime. Through this film, Restrepo sought to revive the collective memory of the country and contribute to the search for justice. The events of 1988, when her brothers were illegally detained, tortured, murdered, and disappeared by the Ecuadorean police, marked her life profoundly. Their bodies were thrown into Lake Yambo and have never been found, and the case became a defining moment in Ecuador’s human rights history.
Restrepo has worked as a director, co director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter on numerous projects dealing with indigenous issues, social themes, fair trade, oral tradition, popular festivities, rural life, and the challenges faced by refugees. Between 2000 and 2002 she produced more than fifty travel reports for the television program La Televisión. She directed, shot, and edited the documentary Mi prima Bruna, which received an Honourable Mention at the Mexican festival Contra el silencio todas las voces and was selected at festivals in Argentina and Portugal.
Her later work in production, scriptwriting, assistance, and co direction includes projects such as the documentary series Yo soy and Ecuador de fiesta. However, With My Heart in Yambo remains the documentary that established her reputation, combining a personal journey with the memory of an entire country affected by this case. The film has been seen by more than 165,000 viewers in Ecuador, screened at numerous international festivals, and received awards in Ecuador, Belgium, Chile, the United States, Taiwan, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, and Colombia.
