“La Hojarasca” (The Bush) by Macu Machín received the highest MiradaCanaria award at the 17th edition.y MiradasDoc, which took place from March 15 to 22 in Tenerife, Spain.
Machin’s debut feature, produced by El Viaje Films, has been racking up accolades since its world premiere at the Berlinale Forum, where it picked up Best Spanish Film and Best Director in the Malaga Film Festival’s Zonazine, a sidebar to edgier and sometimes smaller pictures.
The jury praised the film “for its sensitive and evocative portrayal of three sisters and the deep bonds of love between them and their homeland.” In the film, two older sisters join a third sister to distribute the shared inheritance of a plot of land while the echoes of an active volcano echo nearby.
“The Undergrowth,” part of a thriving cinema in the Canary Islands, explores questions about “identity, belonging and the dynamics of where my family and I come from,” Machin said. diverse.
A special mention in Mirada Canaria goes to “Bloom” (Helena Giron and Samuel M. Delgado, “They Bear Death”), which continues the director duo’s exploration of myth – understood as narratives that shape the consciousness of a society. Filmed in digital and grainy 16mm format, “Bloom” is a fictional exploration of the legend of St. Brendan’s Island, belief in which was so strong that expeditions were sent to find it, even though it never existed.
which he described diverse As a “moving” hybrid documentary entitled “Between Revolutions” it won the Mirada International Award. The film describes a passionate (fictional) friendship between two medical students in Bucharest in the 1970s, Zahraa the Iranian and Maria the Romanian, chronicled in letters they wrote to each other in the following decade.
“In its 17th year, our festival continues to showcase thought-provoking arts, providing a space for reflection amidst today’s social and political challenges. It is important to support a program that uses documentaries to communicate the world’s need for knowledge and understanding,” said David Bott, Director of the Miradas Doc Festival.
“The presence of Sergei Loznitsa in Miradasdoc brought a unique blend of reality and fantasy to the screen. He encouraged us to explore history wholeheartedly, and see it as a guide to the future,” said Loznitsa.
Speaking at the festival, Loznitsa revealed that he was working on a film about current events in Ukraine, which will be released next year. Known for his meticulous work with archival footage, he explained how he found and selected this material: “It depends on the film; Most of the archive comes from the Russian state, and there is a lot of well-preserved material, allowing for good research.
The MiradasDoc Market, which took place from March 20 to 22, strengthened its position as a lively space for cinema in Latin America and Africa, given the Canary Islands’ proximity to the African continent.
“Just like the films screened at the festival, the projects that begin development in our laboratories are unique lifeboats in the contemporary audiovisual reality,” said Lara Souza, head of MiradasDoc Marketplace. They propose cinema not only as entertainment, but as a great space for knowledge and viewer enrichment.
“The MiradasDoc market consolidates itself as a meeting point for southern audiovisual projects, two regions very close to the Canary Islands: Africa and Latin America, which express the distinct and original language of documentary cinema,” she added.
The market also hosted the One to One Tenerife networking event, organized by the Tenerife Film Commission where more than 400 business meetings were held, according to the market.
Concha Díaz, Coordinator of the Tenerife Film Commission, stressed the importance of the MiradasDoc Market as a platform for the development of documentary cinema: “Attending the MiradasDoc Market is always a very good meeting point to discover the projects of local production companies, as well as to make known the funding opportunities and assistance that we can offer from the Film Commission to the projects that come to the festival.” .
Due to the temperate climate of the Canary Islands, the incentives are generous (discount rates of 45% to 54% on shoots of up to €36 million ($39 million) for a film and €18 million ($19.5 million) per single TV episode), a network Fast growing. Creative sector and infrastructure, the archipelago has already attracted several high-profile projects.
MiradasDoc Winners:
Mirada Canaria Award
“The Bushes” (“La Hujarasca”, Macu Machine, Canary Islands)
Special mention: “Bloom” (Helena Giron and Samuel Delgado)
Mirada International
“Between Revolutions” by Vlad Petri
Best Documentary from DocSur
“Los Vincedores” Pablo Aparo
MiradasDoc Marketplace Awards:
Afrolatam Laboratory:
“Le Parkour” (Aries Siabe, France, Cameroon)
Preciosa Media
“Retonios del Zapotico” (Monica Martinez Ruiz, Mexico)
Sheffield
“Le Parkour” (Aries Siabe, France, Cameroon)
sub-
“In My Father’s House” (Rachida El Jarani, Belgium, Morocco)
Impronta
“It is as hard as a brick” (Rogina Tarek, Egypt)
DOCSP
“Os des Terinos do Mio Bay” (Liliana Sulzbach, Brazil)
DOCSMX
“Viscitudes de la Luz” (Marcel Beltran, Brazil, Cuba)