ALBA MORA ROCA

Fotos Morelia Film Festival 2011

2011-10-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

Aquí dejo algunas imágenes de esta semana en Morelia. Muchas otras imágenes me las llevo grabadas a la memoria.

Y aquí les dejo el link al post que ha hecho José Rodríguez en la web del TRibeca Film Institute.

En la Master Class con José Rodríguez, hablando del proceso creativo de mi nuevo documental y del Fondo Latino del Tribeca Film Institute.

El Aula Mater estaba lleno...

Con Susana y José todo es mejor.

Casi dos horas de presentación!

Que linda es la imagen de esta edición del Morelia Film Festival, no?

Morelia Lab, esta edición dirigido a productores de segundas películas.

Atentos en la sessión acerca de distribución en el Morelia Lab.

Con Consuelo, Carlos y Anaïs en la terraza del Hotel Virrey. Recuperándonos antes de entrar al cine otra vez.

Con Carlos, en la fiesta de CANANA en los Mirasoles.

Paseando bajo el sol, Morelia brilla con una luz especial. Foto: Susana Casares

En la fiesta de Cinépolis, con José y Miguel.

Con Susana, recorriendo el mundo con nuestro proyecto.

Este es el primer tequila de Susana en México. A partir de ahí nada es ya lo mismo.

Se acerca el día de muertos. Dulces Morelianos.

Este es el club de los amigos de Carmen Jiménez en México.

José, antes de la presentación.

Con Miguel y Marta en la fiesta de Cinépolis.

Después de ver el corto de animación de Sofía.

Mariano y Mau, los chicos del fanzine.

Con Carlos y Betzabé en la fiesta de CANANA.

MASTERCLASS MORELIA

2011-10-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

Next week I am presenting my documentary project in development at the Morelia Film Festival together with the Tribeca Film Institute.

You are all welcome to come!

Wednesday October 19th 7 pm at the Aula Mater Theater, Av. Madero Pte. 351, Centro

La semana que viene voy a presentar mi proximo trabajo en desarrollo en el Festival de Morelia junto con el Tribeca Film Institute.

Vengan, están invitadissimos!

Fin de Rodaje! DREAMTOWN Ecuador

2011-10-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ya regresamos del rodaje en Ecuador!! Después de 15 días intensos de trabajo en Quito y en el Valle del Chota, hemos podido documentar desarrollos importantísimos de la historia.

Además, en el rodaje fuimos con un equipo mucho más grande que la última vez, de manera que nos ha permitido cubrir muchos más eventos que estan sucediendo alrededor de Dreamtown.

En este vídeo tan coqueto, Betty la directora, hace un resumen del rodaje, para que se hagan una idea de quiénes somos en el equipo y como nos fue.

Versión ESPAÑOLA

ENGLISH VERSION

Y además, dejo acá algunas fotos que tomé con el teléfono:

Directora de Fotografía, Camarógrafa, bromista.

Que suave trabajar a dos cámaras con Betty!

Con doc chavalillos del Valle del Chota. Pure style.

Steve haciendo una de sus mind-tweaking fotos.

Entrevistas, entrevistas!

More entrevistas!

Al partido de la selección Ecuatoriana contra Jamaica.

Reencontrándonos con viejos amiguitos.

Las cazuelas de Mariscos a 2 dólares en el mercado. Que ricas!

DINOSAUR REVOLUTION PREMIERE

2011-08-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

DINOSAUR REVOLUTION!!!!!

Finally! The Discovery Channel show I work on the premieres Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 9PM e/p on Discovery.

Congratulations to all the team at Creative Differences, you guys are truly awesome!

Watch it here: http://lnkd.in/zCJY39

IDFAcademy Summer School

2011-07-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

Making documentary films can be a very lonely struggle sometimes.

That's why workshops such as the IDFAcademy Summer School are so great. And necessary.

Because you get to realize that there are other people around the world in the same fight.

That you are not alone. And you make new friends. Interesting ones.

With amazing stories to tell. And you feel some kind of unity.

Solidarity maybe.

Yes, and you learn tons of new stuff.

Like your head is a parachute. Wide open.
Fresh air.

La familia al completo. La foto oficial.

Don't ask me, I don't really know what was going on here.

With Carmen Cobos, una grande grande. Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso! :)

En clase, atenta.

Muy, muy atenta.

Con Peter Wintonick, que nos hace reír.

Esta sessión con Janus Metz fue como abrir un ojo nuevo que no sabía que tenía.

--- These are some pics I took with my phone:

Feeling the love.

This is me with very few hours of sleep.

Con susana, compañera de grandes grandes viajes en el Aeropuerto -Internacional- de Girona.

Primer día. Cuaderno nuevo.

Our first -disastrous- presentation.

Coming from L.A., biking to school just seems like... LUXURY!

Structuring my film... It feels difficult to organize such a rich, messy Reality.

Need help? Peter Delpeut's master class.

"The Dictator Hunter" DVD comes with the welcome bag. Sweet!

Making new friends from all over the world.

Group session #idfasummerschool Chopping and rethinking our doc ideas with Kate Townsend of BBC

Lots of feedback and input... My docs to watch list grows at a scary pace

Me encantan los autobuses cerveceros holandeses!

Najeeb and Nicolas

BBQ time

Open air, free screening of Armadillo!

Susana in producer mode. Flor en primer término. Su es, indudablemente, lo más.

Terracita cervecera de verano.

Inspiring Audrius Stonys’ class on documentary openings.

Following the steps of Mustafa&Susana

#idfasummerschool crew/staff really rocks. Thank you guys for the great time we are all having in Amsterdam!

My words R y'r words

So glad to meet you.

Big thanks to all the beautiful, smart, charming, inspiring tutors at #idfasummerschool

Taking the “documentary vow of poverty” with Peter Wintonick

Reportatge Catalans a Hollywood

2011-05-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

Aquí us deixo el reportatge de la periodista catalana Patricia Puentes per la Time Out Barcelona. Després de dues hores de cafetó i xerrera a la cafeteria Stories a Echopark aquesta es la entrevista que n'ha quedat. Gràcies Patricia!

Tribeca Film Institute Latin America Media Arts Fund

2011-04-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Great News. My next documentary project "TOYS" has been awarded with the Tribeca Film Institute Latin America Media Arts Fund. This is great great news and means that the film is moving forward!

We fee grateful and blessed to be part of the amazing Tribeca Film Institute Family!

Susana Casares and Arturo Díaz, producers of the film, were also there to meet the other grantees: the amazing 3 Juanes! AKA Juan Mejía, Juan Carlos Castaneda y Juan E Yepes.

Their film The Battle for Land delves deep into "the complexities of mass displacement pushing us past prevailing ideas where displacement is seen as an aberration of war, and progressively revealing a more intricate and terrifying picture. It is above all a journey deep into the heart of uprooting and the dark side of progress."

VJ MOVEMENT

2011-04-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

VJ MOVEMENT me contactó para que colaborara en un informe global acerca de las armas de fuego. Al principio pensé que... pues que en realidad mi vida tiene muy poco que ver con las armas de fuego. Que ni siquiera había tocado nunca una pistola de verdad.

Pero luego me di cuenta: Vivo en Los Angeles, estoy rodeada de gente armada.

Gente común que cree que es su derecho tener armas de fuego. Un derecho básico descrito en la constitución. En realidad, sólo tuve que voltear la cabeza, al despacho de la derecha para tener el vivo ejemplo. Peter Hankoff y yo trabajamos juntos en una productora de documentales. De hecho, Peter recibe frecuentemente paquetes de FedEx con armas en la oficina! (Sí, las compra online).

Así que me lancé. Hacer un retrato de Peter y su amor por las armas y su defensa del Second Amendment fue divertido. Y polémico. Las del equipo de filmación y yo no podíamos evitar las caras de shock y desacuerdo al hablar del tema con las personas que salen en el vídeo. A pesar de tener opiniones totalmente opuestas, pienso que Peter ofrece unos argumentos interesantes acerca del 2nd Amendment. De hecho, Peter me parece un gran tipo. Con opiniones radicalmente diferentes a las mías, sí, pero eso es justamente lo que hace que conversar con Peter sea de lo más interesante.

En fin. Ahí les dejo la pieza que se publicó en la página web de VJ MOVEMENT y aquí la versión en HD.

College Televison Awards 2011

2011-04-10T13:12:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos of the Student Emmys. Ooops. Sorry. I mean the Academy of Televison Arts and Sciences College Television Awards. Either way:

On April 9th I was invited at the College Television Awards for my camera work in "Feast and Sacrifice", by Clare Major. And...YES

It won the first Prize for the best documentary!!!

Yay! That was a lot of fun and glamour all together. It felt just like Hollywood in the movies. Red carpet and everything. (And that doesn't happen that ofter with documentaries).

More importantly, it made me very happy to see Clare's awesome work recognized. And represent UC Berkeley.

Go J-School Docsters!

About the film:

Feast & Sacrifice is a carefully observed portrait of a Senegalese family living on the ragged edges of globalization. Questions of work, gender, and aspirations emerge as the family prepares for the biggest holiday of the year, the Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice.

You can watch it online here.

Congratulations to Clare Major and all the team of "Feast and Sacrifice" for the Best Documentary at the College Televison Awards :-)

DOCUDAYS

2011-03-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

On March 26th 2011, Guests Of Space is screening at DOCUDAYS, the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Liev, Ukraine.

Traditionally, Docudays UA gathers all top-hits of world documentary, famous directors and successful producers, and organizes workshops of world-leading filmmakers and discussions with directors.

We are happy and thrilled to be at the Human Rights competition together with our colleague Bagassi Koura. We wish we could be there for the screening...
Here's the festival's catalog.

Open publication - Free publishing - More alba

TIGER MAN - National Geographic

2011-03-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

Working on "Tiger Man of Africa" has been a privilege. I absolutely looove this show. I don't look at tigers the same way anymore. Shot in a diary style, John Varty has a lifelong passion. As the wild tigers disappear in Asia, Var More than just an important story about the wild Tiger extinction it is also an extraordinary, up close look at the "humanity" and nobility of this animals.
We see Shine (the main character tigress) mating, giving birth and experiencing the death of one of her cubs.

Dieu Pham, Raymond Bridgers and Ron Medico did such a fantastic job putting this show together.

Air date is April 8th 2011 at the National Geographic Channel!

A seemingly impossible dream: to create a new population of wild tigers outside their natural habitat. One man, John Varty, did just that. Starting with two young, zoo-born tigers, Varty now has more than 15 tigers at his Tiger Canyons reserve, and has used ever-present cameras to document two years of their lives. Whether mating, birthing or hunting, Varty shows these magnificent tigers with remarkable, up close and personal detail.

Read more: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episode/tiger-man-of-africa-the-mating-game-5127#tab-Overview#ixzz1G2Rl7loT

Revista Gidona

2011-02-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

Aquest Nadal Judit Arroyo Berenguer, directora de continguts de la Revista Gidona, em proposar sortir a la nova secció “Gironines al mòn”. Aquesta és l’entrevista que ha sortit al número de Gener 2011.

Open publication - Free publishing - More girona

Us podeu baixar el PDF aquí.

ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM FESTIVAL OF QUEBEC

2011-02-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

I love Ethnographic Film Festivals and I wish I could be in Canada for FIFEQ.

Guests of Space is screening on January 28th at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi along with "Secrets of the Tribe" by José Padilha. This is an honor! I've heard so many good things about this film.

There will be a sencond screening on February 4th at UQAC Salle PO-5000 - Pavillon Principal at 19h40.

Here's the link for more info: http://fifeq.ca/spip.php?rubrique4

So, here's more information about the Festival:

Dedicated to the promotion of ethnographic films, the FIFEQ screens films created by new filmmakers from both Canada and abroad as well as from renowned figures in the discipline of visual anthropology and the social documentary genre. The festival is both a celebration of the discipline of visual anthropology, as well as a reflection on the debates and ethical issues surrounding the utility and relevance of employing visual media when studying cultures and societies.

This is all been made possible due to the efforts of anthropology students from Concordia University, Universite de Montreal and McGill University. The FIFEQ creates a forum for professors, professionals, students and others passionate about films and anthropology to watch contemporary ethnographic films on the big screen and in turn to exchange ideas, pose questions and learn more about film media within the domain of the social sciences.

The International Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec - 8th edition - Trailer from sadaf foroughi on Vimeo.

DE RODAJE PARA DISCOVERY CHANNEL

2011-01-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

Acabo de llegar de Tafalla, Navarra. Han sido dos días de total inmersión en el mundo de los toros. Me encanta mi trabajo por eso, porqué de repente me encuentro en el Club Taurino de Tafalla, sentada junto a Felipe Sota, empresario taurino, y dos señores de boina negra, viendo DVDs del concurso local de recortadores. Las paredes están forradas de fotos antiguas en blanco y negro de toreros. El DVD se titula Toriviciao. Hablamos acerca del arte de recortar (el toro no muere al final), de las fiestas y los encierros en Navarra, de la ley antitaurina en Catalunya, etc... Hacer documentales le da licencia a una para preguntar cosas toda la tarde incansablemente, y para entrar en lugares a los que nunca, nunca, habría tenido acceso a no ser porqué "estamos haciendo un documental". Eso es para mi un privilegio, navegar libremente entre todos esos pequeños mundos que coexisten sin mezclarse.

En esta ocasión estoy haciendo de cámara y producer de un segmento para una serie documental de Creative Differences para la network Discovery Channel. Me llevo mi cámara y a una gran ayuda: David Gutiérrez Camps. David me hace de sonidista y de ayudante. Entre los dos conseguimos reunir a cuatro testimonios directos que nos cuentan en primera persona el accidente que tuvo lugar en Agosto, cuando un enorme toro saltó al tendido.

Parece ser que eso es notícia en Tafalla, me llaman de la cadena SER para entrevistarme y aparecemos entrevistados en dos peródicos locales también. Fotos incluidas.

Todo muy curioso y extraño.

Aquí os dejo los links y las fotos:

Diario de Navarra.

Noticias de Navarra.

Ayuntamiento de Tafalla.

TARTU FESTIVAL OF VISUAL CULTURE

2011-01-02T02:38:00.000-08:00

Guests of Space is going to Estonia!

Our documentary has been selected to participate in the Worldfilm 2011 – Tartu Festival of Visual Culture to be held in Tartu, Estonia, 21.-27.03.2011

The screening be on Wednesday March 23rd. Save the date!

Tartu is a national university town with a unique intimate atmosphere that characterizes the festival community as well. The event brings together all those interested, including filmmakers, anthropologists, researchers, journalists and students.

In addition to the main program of around 40 films, there are special sections including a focus on Leonard Kamerling.

Here you can see the film selection for the festival’s film program: http://www.worldfilm.ee/news

Fotos del Festival de Morelia

2010-12-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

Aquí os dejo unas fotitos de nuestra visita al Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia 2010. Ciudad bella entre las más bellas del mundo. Increïble festival también.

Poster de la película

2010-11-22T23:57:00.000-08:00

Mención de Guests of Space en indiWire

2010-10-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

Published at indieWire on October 25, 2010 by Howard Feinstein.

“Change of plans. We’re going to Sam’s Place.” I heard this exchange between two of the festival programmers at the Morelia International Film Festival after dining in a restaurant full of upside-down statues of Saint Antonio (women pray to him for a husband), before driving to the opening party. It sounded so mysterious. Sam’s Place. A strip club? A roadhouse? A druggie hangout? It turned out to be a magnificent home owned by a wealthy philanthropist, surrounded by 25 inch-thick walls of the ubiquitous pink granite that defines the city center, where architecture from the 17th and 18th centuries is the norm. (Morelia, Mexico is an official UNESCO Heritage site.)

As our car approached, I saw several armed policemen guarding the block. Inside the massive front door were three more, just for opening and closing. We were maybe 40 guests, with somewhere between 15 to 20 guards protecting us, likely on account of one or two government dignitaries who were in our midst. I became nervous, having recently read about Morelia as a major drug center (factories of crystal meth hidden in the hills), and some unfortunate assassinations in the main square, site of one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve ever seen.

But my paranoia was unjustified. I have never felt so safe walking around a city’s streets at all hours. People were warm and helpful, and once I discovered that the state of Michoacan is the avocado-growing center of the country, I became even more enchanted. I’m easy - I can be bought with the guacamole, the best I’ve ever had.

There is a trite lesson here, something along the lines of not judging a book by its cover. My preconceptions of this, the eighth Morelia International Film Festival (October 16 - 24), were way off. Yes, there were some good sidebars, like Quentin Tarantino’s choices of decades-old Mexican vampire and horror films, movies about the Mexican Revolution (this is the centenary year), a section of silent cinema, a retrospective of Olivier Assayas, and smaller tributes to directors like Terry Gilliam, Nicolas Filibert, and Doris Dorrie. Doris Dorrie? Okay, they missed the mark on that one, in which they presented “The Hairdresser,” a vulgar little comedy that had been underwhelming in Berlin.

For me, most of the highlights were not, well, the catalog’s highlights. Tucked away here and there were a few Latin American shorts, both fiction and documentary, that were pure genius. And in the main competition of Mexican feature films (only seven), the ones that were pretty much unsung were the discoveries for this guy.

This happens most often at festivals when the priorities are clearly uncommercial. In terms of the symbiotic relationship between art and commerce that both defines and haunts film, the scales here tip heavily toward the latter.

“This is a festival invented by cinephiles for cinephiles,” explains Daniela Michel, director since its inception in 2003. “We are not all that interested in the business part.” Wow. What fest leader admits that these days? It’s a confession more than fabulous, and it rang true. “We want to show the diversity of the Mexican film world and the international film scene, but also we have to think of the local audience, which makes up 70% of our attendees, a total of about 50,000 this year. So we show experimental works from Spain but we know many of the Morelian families like Woody Allen.”

The festival has a connection to the Ambulante Film Festival, essentially a selection of documentaries that tour all over Mexico, that’s recently branched into the neighboring Central American countries of Guatemala and Honduras. Ambulante is a child of Canana, the film company owned by Pablo Cruz, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Diego Luna (who was here to deservedly receive the Jose Cuervo prize for career achievement; this is a great actor who directed an excellent documentary, “Chavez,” and a fine fiction feature, “Abel”).

On the tour, according to Ambulante director Ricardo Giraldo, are about 60 films, Mexican and foreign, and they are shown mostly without charge in towns and villages where residents would have no other way to see them. In 2006 Ambulante linked up with Morelia for a yearly presentation of a new documentary and a major press conference outlining plans for the coming year. You have to love these people. Among the new sections is one called “Dictator’s Cut,” which focuses on films about human rights. Nothing like dedication and a wicked sense of humor.

One of the features that bypassed my expectations was “A Stone’s Throw Away,” a film in competition, the first film directed by cinematographer Sebastian Hiriart, its storyline developed in conjunction with the great actor and theater director Gabino Rodriguez. Rodriguez stars as a shepherd named Jacinto who tends his flock in the San Luis Potosi region in the north of Mexico. One day, after a powerful dream about discovering treasure, he finds a key chain with an address in Oregon. Thinking it a divine sign of impending financial gain, he slips into the U.S.,where he is robbed and beaten by both fellow Latinos and young gringos, but nevertheless he follows through on his plan until he reaches a remote snowy mountain pass where the address is located.

He doesn’t speak English, and the residents tie him up, assuming he stole it from their missing son. Xenophobes like most of the Americans Jacinto encounters in this unique road movie, have him deported. Suddenly the calm life of a shepherd does not look so bad. Besides Rodriguez’s masterful performance, Hiriart’s cinematography — he shot everything himself — is outstanding. His feeling for both natural, urban, and small-town landscapes is unique, as if the steady eye of a divinity were observing the world.

Another revelation in the competition was the feature “Alicia, Go Yonder,” shot mostly in the far south of Argentina by Mexican filmmaker Elisa Miller. It’s something of a diary film, about two characters, who come together only briefly, each on a geographical journey to help in mapping out their psychological and emotional turmoil. Miller and actress Sofia Espinosa worked closely together to track her character from Mexico City to Buenos Aires to Calafate and the glacier at Petite Morena, not far from Antarctica. She had Espinosa and actor Martin Piroyansky (the confused teen in “XXY”) improvise, never shooting more than one take, but still rehearsing with them individually in advance. A bit of the Mike Leigh approach.

What Miller got in three weeks is Art with a capitol A: superb compositions with unusual facial angles, light streaming through windows and leaving bits of matter in the air, but always cinematic. This is a road movie, so movement is essential. At only 65 minutes, and represented by a French sales agent, Miller is doing what director Michel had been emphasizing: being a creative cinephile without much regard for the business end. She’s brave. By the way, she won the Palm d’Or for best short in Cannes in 2007 with “Watching It Rain,” so she’s a recognized talent who has selected her own path.

The shorts: “Glorious Saturday,” a fiction by the Colombian filmmaker Santiago Lopez Ortiga, seemed like a Post-‘em in the catalog, a footnote to the Peruvian feature “Undertow,” in the strand of international features. Shot for $35,000 on the Colombian island of Orika in the Caribbean, Lopez Ortiga used teen nonprofessionals in this story set in the popular world of cockfighting. A teen boy’s animal, called Bruce Lee, means the world to him, even if he has to lie to his young girlfriend about what he is doing. An assistant director of commercials, this director knows how to make a movie, and he has also succeeded in giving rare screen time to a marginalized community of blacks.

In a section about indigenous peoples called First Nations Forum, Spanish-born Alba Mora Roca, who now lives in Berkeley, presented a 26-minute documentary (a Spanish/Mexican/American co-production) set in Colombian jungles only recently explored. She filmed the plight of the Nukak Maku, who were unknown to the outside world until 1988. With old TV and archival footage, she shows how they were then - naked and proud, before missionaries brought germs and clothing; before narcotics traffickers moved in on their territory; and before necessity motivated them to guard coca fields for paramilitary groups. The interviews with the old-timers are fascinating; this is not only well-made, it is an important record of one of the great mistakes in modern anthropology.

An Argentinian-born resident of Mexico City, Flavio Florencio, known in Mexico as the organizer of the African Film Festival, showed his 15-minute work, “And God Would Know,” in the official shorts competition. A deceptively simple tale about a very old woman (played by a centenarian he met in a café) whose sons are too preoccupied working in the States to visit her, it is basically cut between men in a truck and the old woman struggling with a pay phone. The film has a textured placidity, possibly influenced by the years Florencio has spent in Africa.

The main winners of the Morelia International Film Festival:

Best Mexican Feature: “Marimbas From Hell,” by Julio Hernandez Cordon

Special Mention: “Mother Earth,” by Dylan Verrechia and Aidee Gonzalez

Best Mexican Fiction Short: “The Gold Mine,” by Jacques Bonnavent

Best Animated Mexican Short: “Ponkina,” by Beatriz Herrera

Best Mexican Documentary: “El Varal,” by Marta Ferrer

Best Michoacan Film: “The Idea of My Mother,” by Maider Oleaga

Audience Award: “Acorazado,” by Alvaro Curiel

Howard Feinstein is a film critic at Screen and indiWire and programmer of Panorama program of Sarajevo Film Festival.

DOCS DF

2010-10-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

Estamos felices. Van a proyectar el corto DE JUGUETES en el Festival DOCS DF, sección Cortos Nacionales.

Aquí les dejo las fechas de proyección:

JUEVES 21, 22:00, CINEMEX PLAZA INSURGENTES, SALA 7

VIERNES 22, 2130, JAIMA PARQUE ESPAÑA

SÁBADO 23, 21:00, CINEMANÍA, SALA 2

SÁBADO 30, 12:40, JAIMA CIUDAD UNIVERSITARIA

DOCSDF, es el Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de la Ciudad de México, un encuentro anual para la difusión de lo mejor del Cine Documental nacional e Internacional.
Este 2010 DOCSDF llevará a cabo su quinta edición; Ecuador será el país invitado, el RETO DOCSDF se llevará a cabo por segunda vez en el Centro Histórico y el DOCSforum volverá para traer actividades académicas de muy alto nivel. Todo esto y más del 21 al 31 de octubre de 2010. ¡Ven a ver documentales!

Para ver el programa completo vean:
http://www.docsdf.com
http://www.youtube.com/DOCSchannel
http://docsdf.wordpress.com/

GLOBIANS DOC FEST STUTTGART

2010-09-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

Guests of Space has been selected and accepted for festival programming at the Globians world & culture Documentary Film Festival in Stuttgart, Germany.

Save the date if you are in Stutgart on November Saturday 13th.

The screening is at 8 PM at Linden-Musuem Stuttgart (Hegelplatz) – Veranstaltungssaal. It's programed together with Cecilia Posada's film "Jacanamijoy, De la Tierra Sagrada a la Gran Ciudad" (Jacanamijoy: From the Sacred Land to the Big City) a 2009 spanish production.
The festival venue is the renowned ethnological "Linden-Museum Stuttgart" at Hegelplatz in the city center of Stuttgart. The auditorium of Linden-Museum has a capacity for 250 - 350 patrons.

Festival's web site address URL:

http://www.globians.com

Red Rock Film Festival

2010-09-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

"A Mexican Toy Story" has been accepted into the 2010 Red Rock Film Festival competition!

We can't help to be excited to get to visit Zion National Park in November.

Held beneath the majestic red mountains of Zion National Park, this international motion picture arts festival will show over 50 films including movie premieres, new shorts and features. Come for the films and stay for the Q & A sessions will the filmmakers. The festival will have a shorts competitions, feature competitions, special screenings, special events, private parties, a Director of Photography art show, and panel discussions with approachable professional people. For tickets and information call 435.705.5555 or visit www.redrockfilmfestival.com.

Red Rock Film Festival

November 11-14, 2010 – Southern Utah | Zion Canyon

KASSEL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

2010-09-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

We are happy to announce that we’ve been selected (among 2,276 submitted films!!) for the Kassel Documentary Film Festival, Kasseler Dokfest 2010.

Guests of Space will likely be screened on Sunday, Nov 14 at 4pm.

The Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival annually takes place on six days in mid November to show the diversity and current tendencies of documentary work. It is organized by the Filmladen Kassel e.V., an arthouse cinema that has been an important part of the culture and media scene of the city of Kassel since 1980 due to its manifold and committed activities.

The festival presents about 230 international documentary films as well as experimental and artistic works. Together with its further three intermedia sections, the profile of the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival is unique: The exhibition Monitoring transfers the medium film from the cinema to the context of an exhibition in presenting contemporary media installations in addition to the film screenings. It is complemented with an audiovisual live program in the DokfestLounge as well as the interdisciplinary conference interfiction.

As a film and media festival with an international orientation and a strong focus on new media it is unique to Hesse. Its involvement with European networks and its funding by the MEDIA Programme underlines the European dimension of the event.

Having this profile the Kassel Dokfest annually attracts both a regional audience as well as professionals of the film and media industry from Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. In 2009, for the first time more than 10,000 guests visited the individual events of the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, among them 440 accredited professionals.

This year, the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival takes place from November 9 to 14, 2010.

Metrópolis, Televisión Española

2010-09-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

"De Juguetes" va a aparecer en el programa Metrópolis, programa de TVE sobre cultura y arte contemporáneo, dedicado a la Muestra de Audiovisual Injuve 2010.

Se puede ver aquí: http://www.rtve.es/television/20100920/audiovisual-injuve-2010/355290.shtml

Lo van a pasar en tres fechas y canales diferentes.
Emisión en La 2 - domingo 26 de septiembre a las 00.30h Emisión prevista en TVE

Internacional Europa - Domingo 3 de octubre a las 02.00h Emisión TVE

Internacional América I y II - Domingo 3 de octubre (horario aún por determinar)

El programa permanecerá colgado en streaming de la página web (www.metropolis.tve.es) y en el apartado RTVE A LA CARTA del portal de RTVE www.rtve.es.

Más información en:
http://www.rtve.es/television/20100920/audiovisual-injuve-2010/355290.shtml

San Diego Asian Film Festival

2010-09-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

"A Mexican Toy Story" will be screening at the San Diego Film Festival !

My film has been selected to headline the short films program CINEMA BENTO, a Japanese themed program and the HE(ART) OF THE MATTER, an artistic themed program.

Here are the screening dates and times selected for Cinema Bento:

October 21st (Thursday) - 7:15pm (Opening Night)
October 27th (Wednesday) - 4:00pm

Here is the tentative screening date and time selected for HE(ART) OF THE MATTER:

October 24th (Sunday) - 4:45pm

The festival dates are October 21st - 28th in San Diego USA

The San Diego Asian Film Festival is one of the largest exhibitions of Asian international and Asian American cinema in North America. Along with narrative features, the Festival also showcases documentaries, short films, and animation. The Festival is competitive, offering awards in various categories and cash prizes for filmmakers.

In this photo from left to right: Carlos Dávalos and Alba Mora (A MEXICAN TOY STORY) with Mark Villegas (LYRICAL EMPIRE: HIP HOP IN METRO MANILA), Carole Ryavec and Preet Srivastava (BOMBAY TO BROOKLYN) alter their screening at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.

More info at http://www.sdaff.org

Here you can watch the short film that's screening at the Festival:

Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia

2010-09-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

Guests of Space va a participar en la octava edición del Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia en el marco del programa especial "Foro de los pueblos indígenas".

Este año el Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia se llevará a cabo de 16 al 24 de Octubre en la ciudad de Morelia, Michoacán.

Open publication - Free publishing - More 2010

Más información en http://www.moreliafilmfest.com.

Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival

2010-09-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

A MEXICAN TOY STORY has been selected for the Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival!

The festival will take place Thursday Sept 16th - Sun Sept 19th
in downtown Chicago, IL (Film Row Cinema - South Loop area)

I am not sure who else has been selected but the screening is sometime between 16th - 19th September. Please stop by if you happen to be in Chicago :)

Film Row Cinema @ Columbia College, Chicago
1104 S. Wabash, Top Floor!
Chicago, Illinois 60605
United States

Mill Valley Film Festival

2010-08-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Breaking news: my film ”Guests of Space” is scheduled to play in Mill Valley Film Festival on October 10, 4:15PM, 142 Throckmorton Theatre. Save the date!

Known as a filmmakers' festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival offers a high profile, prestigious and non-competitive environment perfect for celebrating the best in independent and world cinema.

The 33rd Mill Valley Film Festival takes place October 7 -17 2010.
The full schedule will be available on our website at www.mvff.com on September 14.

Certamen Creación INJUVE 2010

2010-08-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

El próximo nueve de septiembre a las 20 h. tendrá lugar en el Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid la inauguración de la exposición Premios Creación Injuve 2010 en la que mi corto "De Juguetes" ha sido seleccionado en la Categoria de Artes Visuales.

El Instituto de la Juventud (Injuve) es un organismo público adscrito al Ministerio de Igualdad encargado de promover actuaciones en beneficio de los y las jóvenes en España.

Open publication - Free publishing - More alba mora

Projectar a casa

2010-07-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Avui es projecta "Guests of Space" a Girona per primer cop i em fa moltíssima il·lusió comparir-ho amb els amics i la familia. A més, que es passi precisament al Cinema Truffaut, que és com una mena de temple cinematogràfic al que regularment torno des dels 14 anys, encara ho fa més especial.
Moltíssimes gràcies a la Marta Sureda i al Cercle de Crítics de Cinema de Girona per organitzar-ho tot.

Finalment, aquí copio la nota que ha escrit la Marta Pallarès al Diari de Girona.

------
Documental

Els últims nòmades de l´Amazònia colombiana, al Truffaut

«Guests of Space», de la gironina Alba Mora, confronta el món indígena amb narcos i guerrilla

GIRONA | MARTA PALLARÈS Fa poc més de 20 anys que es coneix de la seva existència, però els Nukak Maku han viscut a la selva de l'Amazones des de temps immemorials a través del nomadisme i l'autosuficiència. Però la seva trobada amb l'home blanc i els seus conflictes, a l'any 1988, no els va reportar precisament beneficis: atrapats en el foc creuat de la guerra colombiana, entre els interessos dels narcotraficants i les lluites paramilitars, la darrera tribu nòmada de Colòmbia és a punt de desaparèixer.

Però per si mai això passés, la seva existència hauria quedat documentada, no només en l'imaginari del país, sinó en un important testimoni gràfic. Es tracta de Guests of Space, un documental de la gironina Alba Mora que avui s'estrena al cinema Truffaut, i que testimonia a través de la veu i els ulls dels Nukak Maku la seva lluita per la supervivència.

Mora va estudiar, a través d'una beca d'ampliació d'estudis a l'estranger de La Caixa, un màster en documentalisme a la Universitat de Berkeley (Califòrnia). Després de dos anys cursant-lo, va decidir centrar el seu projecte final en aquesta història, atreta per un conflicte que mostra "el xoc entre dos mons completament diferents, dues cultures que topen i que intenten entendre's".

Dels 1.200 Nukak que hi havia, ara amb prou feines en queda una sisena part, malvivint desplaçats en camps de refugiats a San José del Guaviare i Calamar. Segons que explica Mora, no van poder rodar al territori original dels Nukak perquè actualment és una zona dominada per les FARC en conflicte amb narcos i l'Exèrcit colombià. És precisament aquesta combinació la que va atreure la realitzadora gironina, ja que permet situar aquest estudi antropològic en un context de "total actualitat".

Per aquest motiu, la màxima dificultat durant el rodatge (que es va allargar durant tres setmanes) va ser d'accés a les zones en conflicte. Mora explica que es tracta d'espais bèl·lics militaritzats, i que no s'hi pot accedir per terra ("ens hi van dur en avioneta la policia nacional", explica). A més, la societat colombiana està molt sensibilitzada amb aquest conflicte, perquè els Nukak són considerats una "celebritat ètnica" arran del seu descobriment, motiu pel qual es va haver de ser especialment curós en el tractament del tema. Precisament, va ser arran d'un anterior treball de la mateixa directora, Indígenas urbanos, que aquesta va entrar en contacte amb una antropòloga que la va assessorar respecte a això.

Guests of Space s'estrena avui al cinema Truffaut, i a partir d'aquí entrarà dins el circuit de festivals documentals, tant europeus com llatinoamericans."

A piece I shot for TIME.com

2010-06-06T14:56:00.001-07:00

Here's the piece I shot for TIME.com back in March.

"The Brains Behind Pandora Radio.

How the recommendation engine behind Pandora Radio — using the Music Genome Project — figures out what you like to hear."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,88490113001_1992632,00.html#ixzz0q76XjS1Z

Credits
Reporter: Brian Malow
Camera: Alba Mora
Editor: Valerie Lapinski
Supervising Producer: Craig Duff

Més Mirades. Ciclo Documental.

2010-06-02T04:41:00.000-07:00

"Je ne suis pas moi-même" el documental que hicimos en Camerún junto con Anna Sanmartí se va a proyectar en el ciclo "Més Mirades" en Barcelona. Me da muchísimo gusto que se proyecte la película gratuitamente en la Biblioteca del Poble Sec junto otros documentales catalanes/españoles. Además, hay un debate con los realizador@s después de la proyección, que siempre es interesante.

Puedes ver el tráiler de la película aquí.

Aquí dejo la información del ciclo.
---

MÉS MIRADES. Junio 2010. Documental social + debate con los realizadores y realizadoras

Comienza de nuevo el ciclo de cine documental en la biblioteca: MÉS MIRADES, 2010. Un año más, os ofrecemos diferentes propuestas de cine documental realizado en nuestro país. Durante el mes de junio, cada semana se proyectarán un total de 5 documentales de diferentes temas sociales con el propósito de crear un espacio crítico y de reflexión de la realidad que nos rodea.

Después de las proyecciones tentrá lugar un debate con la presencia del realizador i/o realizadora.

Entrada libre

Las fechas de les proyeccions son las siguientes:

Martes 1 de junio, 19h
Nadar
Carla Subirana

Martes 8 de junio, 19h
La marca Barcelona
Sònia Trigo

Martes 15 de junio, 19h
Je ne suis pas moi-même (Yo no sé quién soy)
Alba Mora & Anna Sanmartí

Martes 22 de junio, 19h
Memòria negra
Xavier Montanya

Miércoles 30 de junio, 19h
Morir de día
Laia Manresa, Sergi Dies

2010 AEJMC Best of the Web Awards

2010-05-20T01:38:00.000-07:00

Just got the news: the May Day Show won the 3rd Place for Team Innovation at the 2010 AEJMC Best of the Web Contest awards!!

The “Best of the Web” competition is an annual Website design contest for members of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication.

Amanda and I are very happy because that was a project that came in a very spontaneous way; we wanted to have fun and experiment with the new Live TV web platforms.

I am very thankful to all the people and good friends that gave us support at School and specially to Lydia Chavez for hosting the project at Mission Local and having us at her house.

WATCH THE PROJECT'S WEBSITE HERE.

THE IDEA/
We wanted to experiment with Livestream, the Live Web TV platform that allows to broadcast live in Internet. This is how all this started. We realized that we could cover a global event connecting live with reporters from all over the planet. And most important, we could have fun doing fresh multimedia content.

THE EVENT/
In more than 140 countries, May 1 is celebrated as a workers’ holiday. May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations and celebrations by hundreds of thousands of working people throughout the world. In the United States May Day has become a day to mobilize undocumented workers for immigration rights.

THE TEASER/

MAY DAY SHOW PROMO from Alba Mora on Vimeo.

THE REPORTERS/
Click on the reporter’s name on the map below to see what May 1st was like in their country!

For a direct link to all video skype calls you can go to the MAY DAL LIVE SHOW vimeo channel.

THE LIVESTREAM CHANNEL/

Also, check the online streaming at the VISUAL EXPERIMENTS channel at Livestream.

CREDITS/

Produced by
ALBA MORA-ROCA and AMANDA MARTINEZ

Mission Loc@l STAFF Reporters
Betty Bastidas
Kate Kilpartick
Stephania Rousselle
Marnette Federis

International Reporters
Daniel Hernandez, Mexico
Irene Masdeu, China
Adriana Gonzalez and Alejandro Rios, Venezuela
María Cilleros and Diego Murcia, El Salvador
Grigory Boyariski, Russia
Romina Ribera and Saverio Pepe, Italy

2010 College Television Awards

2010-04-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

They call them "the non-Emmys Emmys." So imagine a Hollywood Awards Gala packed with students from all over the U.S. super dressed up.

We were all happy to be there, having drinks and walking the red carpet. I felt this was as glamorous as it can get for non-fiction.

Identity/Shift, a magazine show we produced at the TV class, won 2nd place winner in the College Television Awards Magazine category.

Yaaaaay!

Congratulations to the producers and everyone that participated in the making of the show.

Above: Alba Mora, Linnea Edmeier, Clare Major and Christina Salerno.

But, we weren't the only ones representing the UC Graduate School of Journalism. Two documentaries from the J-School were nominated too: Fast as She Can and New American Soldier. All produced by women (!)

Congratulations to Emma Cott and Anna Belle Pevey winners of the 2nd place for the Documentary Category and also to Kiran Goldman and Molly Snyder-Fink for the third place.

The College Television Awards is a nationwide competition recognizing excellence in college student produced video, digital and film production.

.

Above: Emma Cott, Anna Belle Pevey,Alba Mora, Kiran Goldman and Molly Snyder-Fink.

Here you can watch the whole Magazine Show that aired on April 2009 at CNS News.

Times Of Crisis winner of the Documentary project of the Year at POYi

2010-03-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

Times of Crisis, has won the First Place for the Documentary Project of the Year
at the Sixty-Seventh Annual Pictures of the Year International Competition.

Congratulations to Ayperi Ecer, Jassim Ahmad, Bob Sacha, Tim Klimowicz, Brian Storm and all the other team members! It was an honor for me to be part of this multimedia project. Have a look at the amazing interactive timeline... Tim is a genius!!

Times of Crisis is a production of Reuters in association with MediaStorm.

De Juguete

2010-02-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

Divertidísimo.
Trabajar en esta pieza ha sido divertidísimo.
Ha quedado un poquín larga, pero es que a mis ojos les gusta pasear entre juguetes de todas las épocas.
Ojalá hubiera más gente como los Shimizu.
Sería divertidísimo.

LAS 2 VIDAS D'ANDRÉS RABADÁN arrassa als Premis Gaudí

2010-02-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

Una bona notícia!

LES DUES VIDES D’ANDRÉS RABADÁN del bon gran amic VENTURA DURALL ha guanyat els 3 premis GAUDÍ als que optava.

Els premis eren tots 3 d’actors:

ALEX BRENDEMÜHL ::: Millor Actor

ANDRÉS HERRERA ::: Millor Actor Secundari

CLARA SEGURA ::: Millor Actriu Secundària

Moltissimes felicitats a tot l'equip i sobretot als actorassos de la peli!!

Link a la nota de premsa de l’Acadèmia.
Link a la notícia a LA VANGUARDIA.

No hay que dar Papaya. Rodaje Colombia.

2010-01-25T17:43:00.000-08:00

Cierro la maleta y eso parecería solo una parada mas del viaje. Un viaje continuo. Mi personal adaptación del nomadismo, un nomadismo de rueditas y aeropuertos, de conexiones a internet y archivos digitales. Y de libreta y lápiz, porque no.

Cierro la maleta y guardo la cámara, que descanse. Esta llena de polvo, un polvo seco que no consigo sacarle con ningún trapito. He llegado a Berkeley, 1 Terabite de más y unos kilos de menos. A Betty le ha crecido la panza, el bebe se va haciendo lugar, se va haciendo más y más presente. Ya tiene 4 meses y medio y quizá se llame Canela o quizá Santi... hay que esperar a que nazca y ver de que cara tiene.

Casi veinte días en Colombia, llenos de aventuras y de giros inesperados. El primero: conseguimos que nos lleven volando a San José de Guaviare gratis! Después de ir al consulado Español en Bogotá me quedo asustada, aquí en la capital nadie cree que el transporte por tierra sea seguro. "La carretera está llena de retenes, uno no sabe, si son del Ejercito o de los grupos armados, quien sabe. Y ustedes son todos estrangeros, y llaman mucho la atención" y así. Y así todo el tiempo. Hasta que a uno le entra miedo. Y entonces empieza a hacer llamadas.

Hice muchas llamadas. Incluso puse una velita a un Orishas, el que abre los caminos, que se llama Eleguá. Le puse tabaco, ron, dinero y un sombrero de paja, el mío. Y se abrieron los caminos; una avioneta de la Policía Antinarcoticos nos llevo a todo el equipo a San José! Que bien, que alivio, que subidón. Ese inicio de rodaje tan brutal hace que todo nos vaya rodado.

!!!

Yo creo que tomamos mas fotos de la avioneta que de todo el resto del viaje. Yo me la paso filmando el paisaje por la ventanilla hasta que me mareo. Mucho.

28 grados en San José. Y mucho sol, un sol abrasador.Nos ponemos a trabajar enseguida, no ha tiempo que perder. Carlos esta en todo, Betty al sonido, yo a la cámara. Dany llega unos días más tarde, pero cuando llega todo se reactiva, se renueva la energía.
La mañana siguiente ya empezamos a hacer entrevistas con alguna gente Nukak, los más mayores, los que han vivido plenamente la experiencia del primero contacto con la sociedad colombiana. Es extraño entrevistar a alguien y no entender nada de lo que dice hasta que lees la traducción al cabo de 4 días. Es como cuando revelaba los negativos de las fotos, hay un proceso en el que una imagen, un sentido se descubre ante tus ojos. Lo de la traducción del Nukak al Español es una torre de Babel bien extraña, siento que tanto se pierde por el camino... y sin embargo, que hacer?

Palante.La historia del documental es compleja y eso me atrae muchísimo. No hay buenos ni malos y el futuro, incluso el presente, es incierto. Estos días hemos escuchado muchas opiniones diferentes, opuestas formas de ver el mundo. Y ahorita todas navegan en mi cabeza sin ningún orden ni compás. Crecen y se confunden. Se mezclan. Hay que dejar que las aguas se calmen, las ideas cristalizen. Para poder ver claro.

7 cosas que me encantan de Colombia:

- Que todo el mundo ama tomarse un tinto (café) en cualquier momento.
- Que el café es riquísimo en todas partes.
- Que la gente es extremadamente amable y bella.
- Que el chocolate es excelente. Incluso le meten queso dentro!
- Que la música está por todas partes.
- Los paisajes y los cielos.
- Los calditos.

Hay un dicho colombiano que ha estado presente todo el viaje: No hay que dar papaya...y a papaya puesta, papaya partida

o Translation: papaya that is served, papaya that is eaten
o Interpretation: If you leave yourself open to abuse, people will abuse you.

En Aguabonita.

En la carretera.

Rodaje "Voices of Dreamtown"

2009-12-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

Hoy fue el último día de rodaje del documental "Voices of Dreamtown" que dirige mi amiga Betty Bastidas. Estamos hechas pedazos. Han sido diez días intensos, llenos de emociones y aprendizajes. Estoy, bueno, estamos agotadas. Al llegar a la casa, nos hemos tirado a la cama a ver pelis indiscriminadamente toda la tarde. Ficción, por favor.

Ecuador es un país de montañas altas a las que se enredan unas nubes volubles, grises y pesadas. Paisajes majestuosos que me han dejado hipnotizada. Gente increíblemente amable y hospitalaria. Ecuador, latitud zero, la mitad del mundo.

Bueno, en realidad he visto poco del país. Sobretodo hemos estado en el Valle del Chota dónde se concentra la poblción afro-ecuatoriana y una de las zonas con más carencias de Ecuador.

"Esta comunidad de negros llegó a Ecuador en el siglo XVII traídos por los jesuitas y mercedarios para trabajar como esclavos en las minas y en las plantaciones de caña de azúcar. Este valle y el de Salinas durante la Colonia fueron conocidos con el nombre de “Coangue o de la Muerte” debido al clima seco de la región.. Los jesuitas toman estas tierras y se establecen en ellas en 1659."
- Wikipedia

El valle es precioso, con unas montañas de tierra dorada y una gente con una vibra brutal.

En Chalhuayaco, estuvimos filmando con Carlos, un chico que finalmente parece que no realizó su sueño de convertirse en futbolista profesional. Es la dura realidad del fútbol, hay tantas variables que sólo uno de cada.... ufff! muy pocos lo consiguen.

Ese día hubo una misa en el pueblo en la que sacaron al santo de la iglesia y vino el obispo de Ibarra a dar la misa. Me impresionó ver cómo las mujeres ofrecían frutas y bebidas al Santo. Me impresionó el contraste entre la sobriedad obispo viejito y blanco y la alegría y vitalidad de las mujeres negras. Y la música! Ufff.... Aquí suena una música brutal que llaman Bomba. Buenísima. A uno se le van las caderas con ese ritmazo.

A Betty le encanta bailar bomba. Y eso es bueno, eso lo hace todo mucho mejor. Conocimos a la gente del grupo de bomba llamado Mahelén y nos dieron una copia de su disco "Alegría". Estuvimos bailando después de que nos acompañaran a ver el paisaje grandioso del Valle. Un paisaje inolvidable. Y la música deliciosa, con un sabor muuuy propio.

Trabajar con Betty me ha hecho crecer, aprender, ahondar en cosas que hacía tiempo tenía olvidadas. No nos cruzamos con las personas por casualidad, tengo la sensación de que cada una nos lleva un mensaje especial. Para aprender algo nuevo. O algo viejo que todavía no aprendimos...

Algunas palabras sobre el documental:

DreamTown is a story capturing the lives of two Afro-Ecuadorian soccer players in their ardent pursuit of playing professionally-- as they try to follow in the footsteps of Ulyses De La Cruz, an international soccer hero that has made it out through soccer. It is a story of striving for athletic success juxtaposed against Ecuador's disenfranchised Afro-descendants, whose esteemed athletes have brought Ecuador to the top level of international soccer tournaments—the World Cup. The film is set in the impoverished backwater towns of El Chota Valley, and captures a region that, prior to the 2002 World Cup, was invisible to the rest of the world.

On the surface the film is about soccer. But more fundamentally, the story is about our protagonist: Ulyses, Carlos and Romario and the dreams, ambitions and choices they make to save their family and their community. Will they succeed in being recognized or remain in the shadows of a country indifferent to their existence? Despite their muted voices, they represent the voices of DreamTown.

Este es un pequeño previo del documental que hizo Betty el año pasado.

Para los que están perdidos, un mapa!

Mostra un mapa més gran

“Les dues vides d’Andrés Rabadán” estrena el 4 de Desembre

2009-11-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

Per fi s'estrena “Les dues vides d’Andrés Rabadán” als cines!
Fa molta il·lusió veure els somnis i les lluites d'un bon amic a la pantalla gran. Un projecte doble: El Perdó (documental)/“Les dues vides d’Andrés Rabadán”(la ficció) sobre la mateixa persona enigmática que ens va atrapar a tots durant un any.

El tràiler ha quedat increïble :)

Por fin se estrena la película "Las dos vidas de Andrés Rabadán" en los cines!
hace muchísima ilusión ver el sueño y la lucha de un gran amigo a la gran pantalla. Un proyecto doble: El Perdón (documental)/ Las dos vidas de Andrés Rabadán (la ficcion) sobre la misma persona que nos tuvo atrapados durante todo un año.

Mediastom Internship

2009-10-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the review I wrote for the UC Berkeley School of Journalism about the summer internship I did at Mediastorm.

Overall, being an intern at Mediastorm was an inspiring experience. In Spain, I worked in different production studios, but none of them had the same passion and love for what they do. In Mediastorm I had the chance to participate in a certain vision of how things should be done that has encouraged me to keep working in multimedia storytelling. The concept is simple and powerful: tell the stories that feel important having quality and independence in mind. In Mediastorm there’s no artificial deadlines, no advertisers to satisfy. Basically, there’s love and respect for great visual storytelling, there’s a vision. And that is something you don’t learn everywhere. It’s even hard to find. And that’s certainly the aspect of the internship that I enjoyed most, to experience that is possible to independently produce awesome multimedia in a small studio.

The application is quite easy, you’ll find all the steps in their webpage. You can apply here. The deadline is the 15 of November.

The internship was structured in a very simple and effective way. I was working closely with a producer in one project. The other intern was working with the other producer.

When I started the internship a new multimedia project for Reuters was scheduled to start, so I jumped in together with the producer at the same time. The Times of Crisis project offers a peak into the impact of the current financial disaster over the course of a year since it was first set off by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Our challenge was to do compelling narrative not only in terms of rich multimedia interactivity, but also in what it brings in terms of the human face of the impact, providing anecdotes and stories from real people.
We finished it just when I was leaving at the end of August. My role was to cooperate with the producer in anything needed; I would do different tasks such as log material to the computer, select footage, edit sequences, chose music, etc… At the end I got Associate Producer’s credits in the project. You can watch the multimedia project here: http://widerimage.reuters.com/timesofcrisis/

In Mediastorm you get real feedback. I mean the honest one. Their criticism is constructive and helpful; I really appreciated that. I constantly had feedback of my work and they constantly asked for my feedback. It is a highly cooperative environment where I felt everyone was learning. This attitude fascinated me. Everyone in Mediastorm keeps learning and asking for feedback all the time, I’ve never seen that in my previous work environments!

Basically, I did post-production work, a lot of Final Cut and photo editing, which was great. Do not expect to be asked for story ideas as an intern in Mediastorm. This internship is all about post. Also, it was interesting to watch the collaboration between the producers and the interactive designers. I felt the power of multimedia sprouts in this fertile alliance.

The workload was enough to keep me busy all the time, but I never had to stay overnight or more than an extra hour or too. So it was fine. The internship was a really good experience for me in the sense that I got to work in a big project that involved a lot of footage coming from the Reuters Office in London and this implied certain logistics. Also, I enjoyed working with great professionals such as the producers in Mediastorm and also the people from the Visual Projects at Reuters who came from London to work with us for three days.

Finally, just to say that Mediastorm feels like a little family. There are six people working permanently in the office and they are all fun, smart and loving. I felt very welcomed since the very first day and they made me feel just like at home in gigantic NYC.

My last project is live!

2009-10-20T01:35:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I build a whole website dedicated to a short film. I love the idea of text, maps and extra videos coming together in one space. And the fact that people can leave comments (although no one has said a word yet). When I finished editing the 8 minutes film, I felt I was simplifying some aspects of the story. Now, with the extra video interviews I keep uploading, I feel that some of those are being addressed. The accompaining texts by Carlos, Jorge and Enric are awesome and they really help to understand the broader picture.

Here you can watch the experiment: THE URBAN INDIGENOUS

OUTLINE/

Although the Amazon is thought of as predominantly rural, the majority of people live in concentrated urban areas. “The Urban Indigenous Project” explores the Amazon’s native peoples’ experience of migration from the Colombian rainforest to the city. Using different media, this project seeks takes a look at the indigenous societies challenges in the urban context of globalization.

Oakland - Toluca

2009-09-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Por fin llego a México. Uf, llevaba ya tiempo imaginándolo. Como reconstruyendo sus sabores e imágenes a través de los millones de mexicanos en Estados Unidos. Y claro, aquí no hay burritos con crema, eso es uno de esos mixs culturales misteriosos, como el curry wurst en Berlín. Aquí hay tacos de Nopal con queso. Que ricos.

Y el DF es increíble. Como que tiene pedacitos de Bogotá, y luego de repente unas calles como en L.A., pero si giras a la izquierda en una avenida entonces no, es como que entras en un pueblecito del sur de España con sus callecitas empedradas que se enroscan hasta la plaza de la iglesia. Y hay unos niños que juegan en la acera solitos. Y cae la tarde dulcemente mientras otra señora se peina en la ventana.

Y hay imágenes imaginadas que sí encajan, pero otras no. Nada que ver. Como lo de los taxis beetle verde y blancos tan famosos. Pues ya no. Ahora ya no están permitidos. Ahorita los taxis van pintados como de granate y dorado. Nada que ver, se perdió el rollo pop. Algunos dicen que es para evitar los taxis pirata, otro por evitar los colores del partido del PRI.

Y es como ese ejercicio de reconocimiento entre dos extraños que llevan ya un tiempo sabiendo que va a haber un encuentro y deseando llevarse bien. En su mente, cierran los ojos y se acarician el rostro mutuamente.

-----------------------------------------------------------

La imagen es un ejercicio que hice para el curso "International Reporting: Mexico", concretamente para el día de la Independencia, el 16 de Septiembre.

To be an intern

2009-09-15T23:33:00.000-07:00

Este verano estuve haciendo las prácticas en Mediastorm.org. Una experiencia increíble en muchos sentidos, pero sobretodo porque me empapé de una cierta mirada, una cierta energía y perspectiva que me da más ganas, más fuerza. Hacer lo que te gusta y hacerlo muy bien. Esto es lo que cuenta. Esta es la receta de Mediastorm.

Concretamente estuve trabajando en un proyecto multimedia para Reuters, Times of Crisis. Enseguida nos pusimos a trabajar con Bob Sacha en el vídeo introductorio del multimedia. Había que empezar a editar 2T de vídeo y fotos que llegaron de Londres.

¿Cómo hacer un vídeo de la crisis financiera que no sea aburrido? Ese era el reto.
Ahí os lo dejo, ya me direis.

SYNOPSIS/

On September 15, 2008, the 158-year old investment bank Lehman Brothers became the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, its collapse paralyzing the global financial system.

Governments pumped in cash, but the crisis deepened and broadened, crippling industries and crushing hopes with a force not seen since the Great Depression.

As signs of recovery emerge, Reuters charts 365 days of upheaval to see how lives around the globe have changed as a divergent world embarks on an era of historic challenge.

View this special web documentary and interactive timeline at reuters.com/timesofcrisis

Aduna O - The World

2009-05-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

For the Spring Break Clare and I went to Catalunya, Spain to shoot a story for her magazine piece. Amazingly, her subjects moved from Senegal to Cassà de la Selva, a village that is just 20 min away from Girona -my hometown. You never know where a travel grant can take you. It was great to be back again and shoot at home. These were intense shooting days combined with several family meetings. Clare got to eat calçots and I discovered an unknown face of Cassà de la Selva.

ADUNA O (The World) OUTLINE/
Alaji Ba has lived as an immigrant in Spain for almost ten years; his daughter, Maimuna, and nephew, Yunusa, recently came from Senegal to join him. All three are adjusting to new realities—a life far from home and a changing economic climate.

CREDITS/
Produced by Clare Major.
Cinematography by Alba Mora Roca.
Editing by Clare Major.

LINKS/
Clare Major's website

ALBA MORA ROCA

Fotos Morelia Film Festival 2011

MASTERCLASS MORELIA

Fin de Rodaje! DREAMTOWN Ecuador

DINOSAUR REVOLUTION PREMIERE

IDFAcademy Summer School

Reportatge Catalans a Hollywood

Tribeca Film Institute Latin America Media Arts Fund

VJ MOVEMENT

College Televison Awards 2011

DOCUDAYS

TIGER MAN - National Geographic

Revista Gidona

ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM FESTIVAL OF QUEBEC

DE RODAJE PARA DISCOVERY CHANNEL

TARTU FESTIVAL OF VISUAL CULTURE

Fotos del Festival de Morelia

Poster de la película

Mención de Guests of Space en indiWire

DOCS DF

GLOBIANS DOC FEST STUTTGART

Red Rock Film Festival

KASSEL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

Metrópolis, Televisión Española

San Diego Asian Film Festival

Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia

Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival

A MEXICAN TOY STORY has been selected for the Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival!The festival will take place Thursday Sept 16th - Sun Sept 19thin downtown Chicago, IL (Film Row Cinema - South Loop area)

I am not sure who else has been selected but the screening is sometime between 16th - 19th September. Please stop by if you happen to be in Chicago :)

Film Row Cinema @ Columbia College, Chicago1104 S. Wabash, Top Floor!Chicago, Illinois 60605United States

Mill Valley Film Festival

Certamen Creación INJUVE 2010

Projectar a casa

Els últims nòmades de l´Amazònia colombiana, al Truffaut

«Guests of Space», de la gironina Alba Mora, confronta el món indígena amb narcos i guerrilla

A piece I shot for TIME.com

Més Mirades. Ciclo Documental.

2010 AEJMC Best of the Web Awards

2010 College Television Awards

Times Of Crisis winner of the Documentary project of the Year at POYi

De Juguete

LAS 2 VIDAS D'ANDRÉS RABADÁN arrassa als Premis Gaudí

No hay que dar Papaya. Rodaje Colombia.

Rodaje "Voices of Dreamtown"

“Les dues vides d’Andrés Rabadán” estrena el 4 de Desembre

Mediastom Internship

My last project is live!

Oakland - Toluca

To be an intern

Aduna O - The World

A MEXICAN TOY STORY has been selected for the Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival!

The festival will take place Thursday Sept 16th - Sun Sept 19th
in downtown Chicago, IL (Film Row Cinema - South Loop area)

Film Row Cinema @ Columbia College, Chicago
1104 S. Wabash, Top Floor!
Chicago, Illinois 60605
United States