Publicado em 04/09/2023
The Cineastas na Fronteira section screened 40 films from 21 countries at Cine Brasília. In all, four works were highlighted by the event's official jury.
The fifth edition of the International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival at Cine Brasília came to an end on Sunday (3/9) with the announcement of the films that were highlighted by the official jury. Composed of filmmaker Denise Vieira, a partner in the audiovisual production company Corriola and a member of the Ceilândia Cinema Collective (Ceicine); Len Costa, co-founder of the Maleta Collective, an artistic production company that works with linguistic accessibility in Libras; and Lila Foster, curator, researcher and audiovisual preservationist, the jury gave highlights to four cinematographic works.
The feature film "Flaming Darkness" by Galle Rouard (France) received the highlight entitled "Emerald Tablet".
Jury text:
- "In the beginning it was matter: emulsion, silver crystals and light. Practicing cinema as alchemy, a combination of natural elements that insist on the magic of manipulation. The highlight "Emerald Tablet" goes to the feature film "Darkness Darkness, Burning Bright" (France), by Gaelle Rouard".
The highlight called "Sacred Fruit" went to the short film "The Time That Separates Us" by Parastoo Anoushahopour (Jordan, Palestine, Canada).
Jury text:
- "Mythology ingrained in the land, in sexual symbologies and in the tourist gaze that consumes a timeless geography. The sacred and the profane intertwine in personal and fictional narratives, generating a disturbing question: to whom does the narrative(s) belong? The Highlight entitled "Sacred Fruit" goes to "The time that separates us" by Parastoo Anoushahpour (Jordan, Palestine, Canada).
The Brazilian short film "Aqui onde tudo acaba", by Cláudia Cárdenas and Juce Filho, took the highlight entitled "Intense Botany".
Jury text:
- "Memory, land, exchange and the connection between filmmaking and the construction of a temporality that connects the past to a desired future. The highlight of "Intensa Botânica" goes to "Aqui onde tudo acaba", by Cláudia Cárdenas and Juce Filho (Brazil)".
And Rosa Dias, the character and absolute muse of "The Long Journey of the Yellow Bus", by Júlio Bressane and Rodrigo Lima, received the "Divine Presence" award. Jury text:
- "When life and cinema can't be separated, filming is testimony. The countenance of a woman that crosses a work, a body that stages desire, that makes motherhood present and breathes creative energy into plans, texts, looks, a lifetime of working together. That's why the "Divine Presence" Distinction Award goes to Rosa Dias, the driving force behind the film "The Long Journey of the Yellow Bus" by Julio Bressane and Rodrigo Lima."
More about the awarded films
In "Darkness Darkness, Burning Bright" Gaelle Rouard takes up the idea of nigredo, the blackest black in alchemy, which is so black that it glows with a dark luminescence that shines like no other color. "Gaelle's work could be mistaken for a kind of witchcraft, a magic that brings out a fabulous light, which contours the world, giving it colors we dare never imagine. But it is alchemy. An alchemy that materializes a new world, in a mythical-alchemical-poetic adventure that gives us back something that has been taken away from us for a long time: the possibility of imagining," Rafael Parrode, curator. Gaelle Rouard (1971, France) is a filmmaker and handmade film artist. Since 1992, she has been directing films, specializing in chemical film processing and, in the meantime, has dedicated herself to playing with all the possibilities of live multi-projection games with several people and solo.
"The Time That Separates Us" circles the story of Lot's wife and her mythological places, ancient salt rock formations found duplicated on a disputed border. In the process, the "Pillar of Salt" becomes a portal through which to view the contemporary Jordan River Valley, its highly militarized border and complex tourism infrastructures, as well as the stigmatized domains of desire, sexuality and gender encoded in this highly mediated political landscape. The film's director is Parastoo Anoushahpour (Iran/Canada), an artist originally from Tehran, currently based in Toronto, who works predominantly with film, video and installation.
"Here where everything ends" is an experimental short film that moves between documentary and fiction. Based on a sharing of knowledge carried out in the Bugio Village, in all stages of 16mm filming, botanical development and collective sound recording, it seeks to reactivate the memory of the origins of the Laklãnõ/Xokleng people. Directed by Cláudia Cárdenas, an audiovisual artist from Santa Catarina, and Juce Filho, an indigenous Xokleng and final year journalism student.
In the film "The Long Journey of the Yellow Bus", Júlio Bressane goes back in time to images he produced over six decades in a long stream of consciousness. In this film, he highlights his questions and obsessions, which are revealed as elements of his particular theory of cinema and life. Although Bressane says it's a movie where there are no characters, there is an omnipresent presence, and it's a woman. Her name is Rosa Dias, the absolute muse of one of the most inventive filmmakers known to man. But who is she? A Brazilian philosopher specializing in the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche, she has been Bressane's companion since the 1970s. She is also a director, screenwriter, producer, actress, costume designer and director of photography on several films with Bressane. In addition, the filmmaker has made at least three films about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche ("Nietzsche Days in Turin" (2001), "Nietzsche in Nice (2004)" and "Nietzsche Sils Maria Rock of Surlej" (2019)), which are entirely crossed by the approach of books and articles published by Rosa Dias.
Online exhibition
Between September 15 and 19, Fronteira is offering the public the "Mostra Soltar Rio Dentro de Nós", an online showcase that will feature nine of the 40 films featured in the Mostra Cineastas na Fronteira. They will be available on the festival's website and will feature accessibility tools such as Closed Captioning and Audiodescription.
