With a program that offers the public a film screening, training meetings and exchanges of experiences with national and international guests, the Cabíria Audiovisual Festival, which celebrates and promotes women and diversity in the audiovisual sector, holds another edition. The event is all free. This year, it is held in a hybrid way, with a program of in-person films at the Cinemateca Brasileira, in São Paulo, which runs until this Friday (21). The online program will run until next Sunday (23) through SpcinePlay, Telecine and MUBI. For MUBI, you must use the cabiriafestival coupon. “The Cabíria Festival is an annual event that seeks to be a meeting of different filmmakers to encourage audiovisual production. It is a film festival, which focuses on different ways of making audiovisual such as films, podcasts, series and audiocasts, among others. Our intention is to discuss, in a pragmatic way, what are the actions in search of greater gender parity within a productive chain that is so vertical and sexist”, said Vânia Matos, director, curator and executive producer of the festival. “Cabiria is a great provocation so that more women and more content made by people from the LGBTQIA+ community are in defining positions of works behind the screens and with more interesting representations in front of the screens”, she added. The program features 16 films, including shorts and features, such as the unprecedented Fogaréu, by Flávia Neves, nominated last year for best film at the Rio Festival. Among the highlights is also the multi-award-winning Saint Omer, by French-Senegalese filmmaker Alice Diop, which will have a unique and free exhibition in Brazil at the end of the festival. “We always look for a provocative curatorial approach to bring a range of contemporary female directors who dialogue with the different processes and ways of making audiovisual”, revealed Vânia. Filmmaker is honored In this year’s edition, the honoree is filmmaker and visual artist Everlane Moraes, whose films highlight the social, philosophical and spiritual issues of the black diaspora. Everlane has already made eight short films, most of them documentaries interested in registering characters and familiar territories. Her work mixes fiction with documentary language, presenting an everyday and decolonial narrative. “It brings a perspective of an authorial cinema, debating the transits of an entire Afro-diaspora, which is its ancestral origin, to the screen. It always provokes a political debate, avoiding being pamphleteer”, emphasized Vânia. All of Everlane’s work will be presented at the festival, including on the Spcine Play platform. And whoever goes to the Cinemateca Brasileira will still be able to witness a video installation showing the films Pattaki, Aurora and Caixa D’água: Qui-lombo é esse? “I accept this tribute with great humility, understanding that there are many important women, with a long career, who are part of this trajectory and are references for me. When I receive this award, I believe that it is not just a tribute to me, but to this whole trajectory in which women were also by my side, or came before and after me”, said the filmmaker, in an interview with Agência Brasil. “In a way, this tribute is in charge of this whole process of being a black filmmaker in Brazil. The tribute is directed at me, but I share it with all women. In black cinema we work collectively. We always collectively celebrate our achievements, which is always a legacy of struggle and resistance,” she added. Today’s schedule In this Friday’s (21st) festival schedule, for example, is the Production and Distribution workshop with Elo Studios and Telecine, which will feature Barbara Sturm, director of content and sales at Elo Studios, creator and coordinator of the ELAS Seal, and Gabriel Cohen, responsible for acquisition and co-production at Telecine. And at 4:15 pm, MUBI will also present the film Shiva Baby, by Canadian filmmaker based in the United States, Emma Seligman. In addition to films, the festival also promotes workshops, lectures and debates. To participate in these events, you must register in advance through the website. Women and the audiovisual A study carried out by the National Film Agency (Ancine) showed that the participation of women in directing and scriptwriting projects in national cinema is very low. And it was from this that the Cabiria Festival emerged. “Based on this data, we began to tease ourselves about what actions would be possible to change this scenario. And when you create a festival, you create a meeting, you create a party and you create themes to be provoked and debated. The festival sheds light on an issue that wants to be transformed,” said Vânia. According to the curator, one of the biggest difficulties encountered by Brazilian women in the audiovisual sector is access to resources. “The biggest difficulty is accessing resources, having validation within a market where decisions are made by very similar people. So, the more diversity we have among those who make decisions, whether for a work, a resource or a promotion, the more diversity there will be on screens. The Cabíria Festival, with its debates, provocations, themes and activities, intends to provoke this place where we start to see, year after year, changes”, assured Vânia. Difficulties As a black woman, Everlane recognizes that the difficulties encountered in this sector are related to the issue of resources, but they are even greater. Films by filmmaker and visual artist Everlane Moraes highlight social, philosophical and spiritual issues of the black diaspora Photo – Natália Medina/ Publicity “My first opportunities came from there [das dificuldades encontradas por sua mãe para criá-la]. This Brazilian cinema sustained and sustains itself [pelas] hard working hands of people of color who are behind the camera, for example on the machinery. Black people have always been at the base of Brazilian cinema – either in front of the cameras, sacrificing their bodies for hegemonic narratives, or behind the cameras in subordinate roles. Not that these are not important, but it was just these functions that black people performed”, she highlighted. “We are managing to circumvent this scenario and change this dynamic, this idea of hierarchy on set. But it’s pretty hard. I arrived at this career crossing many obstacles”, reported the filmmaker. To change this scenario, Everlane said that it is necessary for the government to create “affirmative, reparatory, social and permanent public policies”. “Heavy investment is needed in the formation of the entire productive and creative chain of audiovisual promotion and in all parts of Brazil, covering all the diversity of speeches, cultures and perspectives”, emphasized the filmmaker. “The government needs to understand that this is a strategic area from an educational, cultural, political, memory and even economic point of view. We move a lot of money, a lot of people, a lot of spaces and institutions. There is no culture without money. You can’t make art without politics,” she added. More information about Cabíria Festival Audiovisual can be accessed on the website.
Agência Brasil
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