The Mostra de Cinema Periférico began with packed venues for both the session “The Cosmic Shutter” at the Filmoteca de Galicia, and the performative screening of Path of Totality, by Jeanne Liotta at iDomus Museum.
Institutions collaborating with (S8) and the festival directors at the screening at the Domus. PHOTOS: Andrea R. and A. Morandeira.
A Coruña and Galicia will experience a historic moment this summer thanks to their privileged location for observing the total solar eclipse on 12th August. But the Mostra de Cinema Periférico in A Coruña has managed get ahead of the cosmic event by combining light, cinema and stars on its opening day. The 17th (S8) kicked off this Tuesday, 2nd June, at the Filmoteca de Galicia with a six-day programme, beginning with “The Cosmic Shutter”. This session featured films about eclipses made from the perspective of filmmakers and a variety of eras, such as The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and the Moon (1907) by Georges Méliès, Shutter (2019) by Alexi Manis, and Ich Bin 33 (2000) by Jan Peters.
This special session, which was attended by the Head of Culture from the Provincial Council of A Coruña, Natividade González, also served as a tribute to the photographer José Sellier, a pioneer of cinematography in Spain on having been the first to film using the Lumière brothers’ invention precisely here, on the A Coruña beach of Orzán. Nothing has survived from those early moving images recorded by Sellier, but what has reached us down the ages is the photographic series he made of the 1912 solar eclipse, which it was also possible to observe from Galicia. We have this thanks to the late collector and programmer Guillermo Escrigas, who found them printed on a postcard from that time. One of his sons, Fausto Escrigas, was at the Filmoteca screening that began with those animated eclipse photos by Sellier, finally giving them a well-deserved cinematic life.
Opening session at the Filmoteca de Galicia.
OPENING AT THE DOMUS
Following this first programme, the light of cinema moved to the Domus for the festival’s inaugural session, which was attended by A Coruña City Council’s Head of Culture and Tourism, Gonzalo Castro, and the director of the Galician Agency for Cultural Industries (Agadic) from the Xunta de Galicia regional government, Jacobo Sutil. Also present were the director of the Luis Seoane Foundation, Carmen Jiménez, the director of the A Coruña Science Museums, Marcos Pérez, and the director of the Filmoteca de Galicia, Jaime Pena, as well as representatives from companies collaborating with the Mostra.
After a group photo with the festival’s directors, the opening session began, led by Jeanne Liotta, who presented Path of Totality (2017), a film performance in which she created a live eclipse, flooding the space with the magic of using light for storytelling. Using 16 mm projectors, lenses, and invented objects, the New York artist made the audience become part of a collective experience similar to a real eclipse, transforming the shared atmosphere in the room through images and sound, interacting at all times with the projection.
Jeanne Liotta during the screening of Path of Totality (2017).
The audience got an eclipse kit.
VENUES AND ECLIPSE KIT
This year, the (S8) will take place in four venues: the Filmoteca de Galicia, the Domus, Cantones Cines theatre and the Luis Seoane Foundation. There will be 161 films screened from 88 filmmakers and 16 different countries, including world, international and Spanish premieres. The guests—around 80 people from all over the world—will receive a festival bag containing not only the Mostra catalogue, but also glasses to observe the eclipse acquired by (S8) as well as an eclipse guide for next August provided by the A Coruña Astronomical Group, Ío.
The programme will run until Sunday, 7th June, and it includes international highlights, the best of avant-garde creations from the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, expanded cinema sessions, gatherings among Fine Arts students, a masterclass, and a special session from the Kinothek Asta Nielsen archives dedicated to feminist and queer cinema. All sessions are free to attend until the seats are filled.
