COMPETITION XX ELEMENT
FINITE SOIL
Spain | 4’00’’ | 2021
Directors: Isidro Jiménez Gómez, Mariola Olcina Alvarado
Production: Yadira Ávalos, Guillermo de Oliveira, Luisa Cowell
Sinopsis:
From the earth we come and on the earth we become… and along the way, we forget the material base that dresses us, nourishes us and allows life on this planet. The hegemony of the white man is the epidemic that depletes the natural resource earth and, the overconsumption and the unreasonable use of technology, leads us to collective suicide that means being left without land on Earth. In the end, there is nothing left to sustain us.
Biography
Mariola Olcina Alvarado is a director and screenwriter. She has been working on audiovisual projects for social organizations for 12 years while developing in parallel her career as an environmental journalist. As a filmmaker, she has made several short documentaries and animated films. It stands out Cuerpo, nominated in several international festivals and third prize in the 11th edition of the Provincial Youth Awards of Alicante Top Creation 2012. Her works always deal with ecology, ecological economy and ecofeminism. Currently, she is one of the 15 residents of Coofilm.
Isidro Jiménez Gómez is an art and photography director. Degree in Philosophy and PhD in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising. Associate Professor in Information Sciences at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) and collaborating professor at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Researcher at MeCCO (University of Colorado Boulder) and GECA Group (UCM). Coordinator of the Congress of Communication Research Methodologies at UCM and of the journal Comunicación y Métodos. Co-author of different books such as Manual de comunicación para la ciudadanía organizada (Libros en Acción, 2017).
IN ALL KINDS OF WEATHER
Bélgica | 48’00’’ | 2021
Directors: Constanze Alma Wouters, Rob Jacobs
Cast: Anuna de Wever, Adélaïde Charlier, Jozefien Hoerée
Production: Collectif Faire-part, De Imagerie, Dagvorm
Sinopsis:
A group of young climate activists sail from Western Europe to South America to attend the COP25, the world’s largest climate summit. During their turbulent journey over sea and land, Anuna, Adelaïde and Jozefien make a podcast about climate justice. In short episodes they talk with their fellow travellers, scientists and leaders of Indigenous communities in the Amazon about the many challenges of the climate crisis.
Biography:
Constanze Alma Wouters (1993) & Rob Jacobs (1989, BE) are members of Collectif Faire-part, an ensemble of Belgian & Congolese filmmakers dealing with questions about decolonization & ecology. Constanze studied film at KASK in Ghent. Her feel for rhythm and timing makes that she’s primarily working as an editor. Next to filmmaking, she’s a creative educator working with youths. Rob studied psychology & communication. After his education he started working as a researcher on decolonial city intervention. Valuing collaboration more than anything, his academic work transformed into a collective filmmaking practise in which Belgian & Congolese artists try to tell new stories of resistance together.
INDEBTED TO ALL WOMEN
Spain | 60’17’’ | 2019
Directors: María Lobo, Roi Guitián
Cast: Teodora Vásquez, Alba, Mariana, Sonia, Sara Rogel, Jacqueline Castillo, Aby Cortez, Bertha Deleón, Oswaldo Feusier, Cristina Cornejo, Karla Hernández, Sofía Villalta, Roxana Delgado, Xiomara Argueta, Mirna Roldán, María Paz Nieto, Eva Abrego, Morena Herrera, Alberto Romero, Mariana Moisa, Queen MC, Yezli Mic
Production: Sonia Díaz, Lorena Seijo, AGARESO
Synopsis:
Abortion in El Salvador is .punished with 20-40 years in prison. Indebted to All Women wants to give voice to those women suffering and struggling to change one of the most restrictive laws in the world for sexual & reproductive rights.
Biography:
María Lobo and Roi Guitián have worked with media for 17 years. Together, they have been part of the technical and directing team in documentary feature films, such as Yindabad (2007), a documentary awarded at three international film festivals that narrates the struggle of the Adivasi tribes against the construction of a dam in India, and Within the Circle (2012), a story about mental health told by the protagonists of an audiovisual project of social inclusion. Both combine their journalistic and audiovisual work with different projects in the field of non-formal education through communication & participation, from which webdocs such as FaiRua (2015) and Round Trip Volunteering (2018) were created. As freelancers, they have also worked for TV and independent production companies. Their last film together, the first together as co-directors, is “Indebted to All Women” (2019), a documentary created for political and social advocacy in El Salvador within the framework of an international cooperation project.
NAMMU
Spain | 20’00’’ | 2019
Director: Dani Cobarrubias
Cast: Sofía Lobo, María Peris, Carmen Porras y Vanessa Ravira
Production: Nido Producciones, Carmen Porras, Dani Cobarrubias
Synopsis:
Guided by an invisible thread four women begin their journey, back to the centre, to their origin. Four women who are one, on a voyage, with four faces. Colours, elements, dreams, words, realities and sensations guide the return for each one, to the centre. A place where everything is always, and remains, united.
Biography:
Dani Cobarrubias - Degree in Film Direction at the School of Visual Arts (Madrid) and Photography at the EFTI school (Madrid). Co-founder of Nido Producciones (Granada) He has directed the documentaries La petite Nelly (2005), Tangueando (2008) and Despiert@s (2012). Photographed and edited the videodances Inside (Inhabited Landscapes) (2018) and Women in me (2019).
PERPETUAL NIGHT
Portugal/France | 17’00’’ | 2020
Director: Pedro Peralta
Cast: Paz Couso, Matilde Couso de Arcos, Domicilia Nunes, Sara Piris
Production: Janja Kral, Kinoelektron; João Matos, Terratreme Filmes
Synopsis:
Castuera, Spain, April 1939. During the night two Falangist Guards appear at the door of the house where Paz is taking refuge with her family. They request her presence at the police station. Paz immediately understands the fatality of this visit. Unjustly condemned, without a possibility to escape, she asks to breastfeed, for one last time, her newborn daughter.
Biography:
Pedro Peralta was born in Lisbon, where he lives and works. In 2012, he directed the short film Mupepy Munatim (2012), selected and distinguished in several national and international festivals. In 2016 directed the short film Ascension, internationally premiered at the Critics' Week of the Cannes Film Festival and selected in more than seventy festivals. Since 2013 he has worked at the film production company Terratreme Filmes, where he coordinates the distribution. He is currently working on the development of his first feature film entitled KA.
SH_T HAPPENS
Czech Republic/Slovakia/France | 13’10’’ | 2019
Directors: Michaela Mihályi, Dávid Štumpf
Production: Peter Badač, Patrick Hernandez, Véronique Siegel, Jakub Rálek
Synopsis:
The caretaker is exhausted by everything including his frustrated wife and one totally depressed deer, that he comes in contact with. Their mutual despair leads them to absurd events, because... sh_t happens all the time.
Biography:
Michaela Mihályi (1991, Slovakia) is currently studying animation at FAMU in Prague, where she lives as well. She previously studied animation at VŠMU in Bratislava. She has an interest in telling stories using various techniques, from hand-drawn, cut-out to puppet animation. Besides school work, she works as a freelance animation director and illustrator. She has a dog called Ela and loves beer and coffee equally. Filmography: Sh_t Happens (2019), A date/Rande (2018), Food (2017), Here and Here/Tu a tady (2017), Feelings/City (2017). David Štumpf (1991, Slovakia) finished his BA studies at VŠMU in Bratislava with the film Cowboyland that has been selected for festivals in Annecy, Stuttgart or Hiroshima and it has won several awards at home and internationally. David is now living in Prague where he is finishing his MA degree at FAMU with the film Sh_t Happens. He also works as a freelance director and animator. Filmography: Sh_t Happens (2019), WooHoo (2017), Cowboyland (2015).
VALENTINA
Brazil | 95’00’’ | 2020
Director: Cássio Pereira dos Santos
Cast: Thiessa Woinbackk, Guta Stresser, Ronaldo Bonafro, Letícia Franco, Rômulo Braga, Pedro Diniz
Production: Campo Cerrado Produções, Erika Pereira dos Santos
Synopsis:
Valentina, a 17-year-old transgender girl, moves to the countryside of Brazil with her mother Márcia to start fresh. To avoid being bullied in her new school, Valentina tries to enroll with her new name and hopes to be private about her gender history. However, the girl and her mother quickly face dilemmas when the local public high school needs a second parental signature for enrollment. Presenting trans actress Thiessa Woinbackk's debut in features, Valentina is a reflection of the real life hardships that society forces a strong young woman to endure and embrace who she is.
Biography:
Born in 1980 in Patos de Minas, and also having origins in Cruzeiro da Fortaleza (Minas Gerais, Brazil), Cássio Pereira dos Santos studied filmmaking at the University of Brasília, where he directed fiction and documentary projects. After finishing film school in 2003, he wrote and directed eight short films, including A Menina Espantalho and Marina não vai à praia. His works have been selected at several international film festivals, including the Warsaw Film Festival, the OutFest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, Aspen ShortsFest, Palm Springs, Hamburg Short Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival, Prix Jeunesse Munich, Brasília Festival of Brazilian Cinema, Tiradentes Film Festival, Molodist Kiev, Durban IFF and more. His works have received more than 70 awards. As a screenwriter, Cássio contributed to films such as Guigo Offline, a feature for Brazilian television, winner of the Best Brazilian Feature Film Award at Festival Mix Brasil. Valentina (2020), his debut as a director in features, has received 14 international awards so far. Valentina will have a commercial release in the Latin American territory soon, and also has distribution secured in Spain, Sweden and Japan. Recently Cássio was selected to be part of Berlinale Talents 2021, Buenos Aires edition. And currently he lives in Uberlândia, Brasil, and works on the development of his second feature.
