FESTIVAL // PRESENTATION
MADRID, CAPITAL OF THE WORLD’S BEST DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Once again Madrid City Council is backing the 12th DocumentaMadrid festival in the firm belief that documentary film is a means to foster understanding and tolerance, in that it offers us other ways of seeing the reality that surrounds us.
True to its commitment to Madrid’s audiences, upheld continuously throughout the year by Cineteca, DocumentaMadrid offers a special selection of the best films in the genre, showing us the wealth and multiplicity of perspectives from which citizens can peer into our complex world.
Over 80 titles from countries as diverse as Congo, Syria, Indonesia, Sweden, the USA, Poland, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, Chile or Burkina Faso (28 different nationalities) make up a programme prepared through a meticulous selection process involving the 1,069 entries received.
The main event is the Official Section, with 14 feature-length and 19 short films competing for the Best Documentary award, which will reaffirm them as the cream of the crop from around the world.
The festival also puts the spotlight on homegrown productions, offering the public a selection of the most outstanding documentaries of the year. This, the Panorama of Spanish Documentary Film section, comprises 15 feature-length and 5 short films.
What’s more, audiences can enjoy a retrospective and parallel film seasons in conjunction with Filmoteca Española, talks, masterclasses and appearances by some of the leading directors on the current international scene, transforming Madrid into the documentary capital for eleven action-packed days of the finest cinematography, with Cineteca as the epicentre.
Pedro Corral
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism
Madrid City Council
VIEWS
DocumentaMadrid, the international festival promoted by Madrid City Council dedicated exclusively to documentary film, heads into its 12th edition with the mission of presenting a selection of the best documentaries produced around the world this year to the public. It aims to be a meeting place for film industry professionals, creators and their target audiences, rounding off the ongoing activities of CINETECA, Spain’s only cinema devoted wholly to the screening of “real film”.
Reality in all its complexity; the coexistence of various conflicting scenarios; multiple facets of a single story; the rapt gazes of filmmakers eagerly searching for truth through the use of different languages and resources... This is DocumentaMadrid!
A wealth of contrasts, various ways of approaching reality, a variety of stories, diversity and multiple points of view are present in each of the films presented at this edition of the festival. A magnificent nature reserve in the Congo threatened by the region’s endemic violence; the sequel/addition to the film that won the 10th edition of DocumentaMadrid as well as an Oscar, The Act of Killing, in which the director offers a new look from the perspective of the victims of dictatorship in Indonesia; the unchanging life in the country as an alternative to the reality surrounding us during times of crisis; salvation for the Indians on a reservation in Minnesota in the form of a return to their roots; an ironic and subtle portrait of the relationships in Chile’s bourgeoisie illustrated through a group of elderly ladies who meet for tea; kids growing up alone amidst rubbish in a Moscow that is drifting towards capitalism; the desperation and emptiness of those who have fought in useless wars, perpetuated over decades; an entertaining and combative perspective on climate change from the famous American activists The Yes Men; and a musical documentary in the style of Jacques Demy, in which a group of young people sing and recount their passage to adulthood from adolescence... These are just some of the themes found in the films competing in this year’s edition of DocumentaMadrid.
Spain’s latest documentary films premiere in Madrid in the Panorama section. Each year this part of the festival, which is staged with great ceremony and features films devoted to a wealth of different topics, gains ever-increasing importance on the international scene.
We will also take a close look at the point of view of Carmen Cobos, in addition to the “dual views” part of the programme, in which a documentary and a fictional feature film based on the same real event each tell the story through a different lens.
The team that organises and creates the programme for DocumentaMadrid invites you to enjoy these jam-packed days of film and reality. We hope our selections will encourage reflection on the different realities of the world we live in.
Mikel Olaciregui
DocumentaMadrid 2015 Director
ORGANIZED BY
SEARCH FILM
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