Waiting to see how long the State of Alarm lasts, whether a month or fifteen days or we'll see how long, audiovisual proposals multiply on the Internet, more than filling any need, both for those who demand light entertainment and for those looking for something more. So, waiting for movie theaters to reopen, (which we hope will happen soon, well, despite the premieres that are taking place online, These do not meet the needs of the industry), Let's say we can't complain. Among the few advantages that the coronavirus has brought us, one has been the possibility of enjoying attending a film festival at home.
Following in the footsteps of the DA' festival in Barcelona, what We already told you at the time, now the video-on-demand platform Filmin hosts the latest edition of the DOCS Barcelona, the Barcelona festival dedicated exclusively to the documentary format. We are talking about works classified within the non-fiction genre., often considered the little brother of the industry, something that has always harmed him on a commercial level in a quite unfair way before an audience that, beyond some specific proposals or a very canonical model spread by television, doesn't seem to pick up your interest. And perhaps here it is appropriate to reflect and ask ourselves what are the reasons why, at a time when, For example, The printed essay has achieved a good editorial projection, this interest has not shifted to this format. Hopefully this festival and the opportunity to enjoy it from home, ended up serving as the spearhead for a genre that began the development of cinema (They were documentaries, or documentary event records, the first thing the Lumière brothers filmed), and that it is well deserved given the amount of good work it has..
The festival is divided into five sections. In the Panorama Section we find the official competition programming with thirteen pieces from different countries. Among these works, we find some common denominator, as is the case of the relationship between human beings and reality in contemporary societies. This is the background theme of ribbons like Hi, A. I. by Isa Willinger, that addresses the new emotional relationships between humans and robots that are appearing with the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into our lives. Or of Rising from the Tsunami by Hélène Robert, in which, about the case of the tsunami that devastated Japan in the year 2011, we will talk about the relationship with our ghosts, with those who are gone. The Hypnotist by Arthur Franck tells us the story of Olliver Hawk, a hypnotist who was at the service of the presidency of his country, Finland, in one of the most durable governments in history and that forces us to ask ourselves what is true and what is a lie in current politics, while The magic life of V.by Tonislav Hristov takes us into the world of live role-playing games to tell the story of Veera, a young woman who will become V., a fantastic character in a fantasy world who will help him overcome his traumas.
A good dose of documentaries of social and political denunciation could not be missing., this time, It comes to us from the hand of the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei who, on the tape Alive, travels to Mexico to tell the story of the assault on 2014 of a bus of schoolchildren by the police and other armed groups kidnapping 43 children whose whereabouts are still unknown. Or the story of the Jewish lawyer Lea Tsemel who, against any topic, is dedicated to the legal defense of Palestinian defendants in Israel as we will see in Advocate by Rachel Leah Jones. A portrait that is completed with Overseas by Sung-A Yoon a film that shockingly addresses the fate of a group of Filipino women sent abroad to work as nannies and domestic workers in a world where they will be exploited.
There are group portraits here, as Faith by Valentina Pedicini, which tells us about a sect dedicated to kung-fupreparing for the arrival of the end of the world, o Songs of repression by Marianne Hougen-Moraga and Estephan Wagner on La Colonia Dignidad, in Chile, a sinister place where, 45 years back, a sect led by Paul Schäfer was installed, Nazi and Pinochet sympathizer, in which all kinds of abuses happened and where, time passed and the organization was dismantled, torturers and tortured still coexist in the same space. Or more intimate and personal portraits, case of works such as Solo by Artemio Benki that tells the story of Martín Perino, a young and promising Argentine composer who, after suffering a nervous breakdown, He is imprisoned in El Borda, the largest and most controversial psychiatric hospital in Latin America; The Letter by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, which tells the story of Karisa, a young man from Mombasa who travels to help his grandmother, accused of witchcraft, a complex case that hides interests in land ownership in a journey that would take us to the Middle Ages, o Forman Vs. Forman de Helena Třeštíková and Jakub Hejna who discuss the life and work of director Milos Forman.
In the Latitude Section we find six works carried out in Spain and Latin America. As in the previous section, we will come across personal stories, case of Can you hear me? by Pedro Ballesteros, showing the work of sculptor Jaume Plensa, o Monalisa's journey by Nicole Costa who tells us about Iván Monalisa's adaptation difficulties, a Chilean transsexual who lives in New York City. In the rest of the proposals we also find reflections that lead us to analyze how changes can affect group dynamics.. It is the theme of Suspension by Simón Uribe Martínez, that addresses the construction of a large highway in the heart of the Amazon, Arid zone by Fernanda Pessoa, that takes us to the most conservative town in the United States, The big trip to the small country by Mariana Viñoles, about the journey of a group of Syrian immigrants fleeing the war to José Mujica's Uruguay and how their dreams of a better life were cut short there, o The New School by Ventura Durall, that addresses the new forms of education in the 21st century.
Docs Barcelona covers its quota of experimental documentary cinema with the What the Doc section! in which we will see tapes like Space dogs by Elsa Kremser and Peter Levin, what does it tell us, starting from the story of the dog Leika, first animal to travel to space, the life of abandoned animals in modern-day Moscow, salka on earth nobody's by Xavi Herrero, that opens our eyes to an unknown country like Mauritania, The gap de Michele Manzolini and Federico Ferrone, intimate journey to World War II and That which does not kill by Alexe Poukine, that will bring us closer to the story of Ada, woman who was raped by an acquaintance and who will help us enter the spectrum of sexual abuse in trusted environments. Two special screenings close the programming: Letter from Masanjia by Leon Lee, inaugural film that brings us closer to the figure of Sun Yi, political prisoner in contemporary China for his religious ideas, y Constellation Comelade by Luis Ortas Pau, on the figure of the composer Pascal Comelade.
Pay attention to the release dates of each film that will be available only 72 hours in each case. You are warned. 😉 GERARDO LEÓN
