NEW PERSPECTIVES IN AVANT-GARDE CINEMA WILL BE SEEN IN THE SINAIS SECTION OF (S8) IN A CORUÑA

• The section that fosters new creators will be showing 19 works from all around the peninsula that can be seen on 6 and 7 June in the (S8) Palexco venue
• The 15th (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico, held from 31 May to 9 June, will also be extended to the venues of Filmoteca de Galicia, Domus and the Luis Seoane Foundation

With just over fifteen days remaining until it begins, the (S8) Peripheral Film Festival in A Coruña continues to announce its programme for this 15th festival. “Sinais”, the section that promotes the work of new creators, will be bringing to the festival the works of 22 creators who live and work in the peninsula. (S8) is being held from 31 May to 9 June in different venues in A Coruña, the city which will once again be a point of reference for people who love art and avant-garde cinema. The works in the section “Sinais” can be seen in two sessions on 6 and 7 June in A Coruña.

In recent weeks, leading names in avant-garde such as Narcisa Hirsch, Morgan Fisher and Margaret Honda have been making the headlines in the programme announcements for the 15^th (S8), the festival directed by Ana Domínguez and Ángel Rueda. Now it is the turn of “Sinais”, the section that welcomes the work of new generations of creators through cinema and performance. There are twenty-two names, a wide range of proposals and two sessions on 6 and 7 June that showcase these creators’ interest in analogue formats and filmmaking understood as an artisanal craft.

On Thursday 6 June in the (S8) venue in Palexco (the ocean liners dock in A Coruña) in the first “Sinais” programme, the public will be get the chance to see a selection of works whose common denominator is the creators’ relationship with certain geographic territories. These include Instructions for a self-portrait by Pablo Useros, Materia vibrante (Vibrant matter) by Pablo Marin, Burbank Neons by Rocío Mesa, Velos na Tebra by Iago Lourid, Sightings by Pere Ginard, A terra ten glitch by Yasmina Farhani Luaces, Santa Pola by Beatriz Freire, Cada gesto (Every gesture) by Valentina Alvarado, La Jardinera (The Gardener Woman) by Fernanda Vicens, Pasaje cromático #2: Culebra (Chromatic passage #2: Snake) by Brenda Boyer and Beatriz Higón, and Ojos de agua (Water eyes) by Hector Gardez.

In a section like “Sinais”, one often finds projects that are the result of residencies and training activities that young filmmakers have taken part in. This is a sphere that (S8) also works on as an essential link in creating avant-garde cinema. Such is the case of the Galician Iago Lourido, with a work based on the town of San Sadurniño and on his experience at the Chanfaina Lab festival. Then there is Yasmina Farhani Luaces, a graduate in Fine Arts at Pontevedra, who is bringing a work to (S8) arising from the workshop taught by Berio Molina in the latest Novos Cinemas festival in Pontevedra. Pablo Agma from Vigo is also taking part, the recent winner of the eSe8_LAB development scholarships, organized by (S8).

Sinais’ second programme in this 15th (S8) will take place on Friday, 7 June in the same venue, with a common thread that delves into performance in experimental cinema. The public will be able to see Hombre de palo (Stick Man) by Pablo Agma, Katalipsi by Elaine Sier, Triple tango manchego by Colectivo Cranial (Marta Solera Picazo, Aitana de Dios and Patri de la Plaza), Bivalva (Bivalve) by Celia Kiroga Rincón, Impressions of light by Juliana Juliet, The memory of fruit (Diaspora) by Claudia Claremi, Legerdemain by Carlos Vasquez Mendez, and to round off the session, The word was deleted by Esperanza Collado.

This last proposal was designed to activate the Trágame nube (Swallow me cloud) in a live session, with two complementary screenings, original audios by Val del Omar and fragments of a fictitious interview. This is a project commissioned by Collado as part of the exhibition “Cinema of Mirror Programme of the Elementary Triptych of Spain”, for which Elena Duque, the festival programmer, selected work by filmmakers who have been in A Coruña and who show the echoes of the visionary artist Val del Omar in their works.  

Over the past few days, the A Coruña festival has announced programmes dedicated to the Americans Morgan Fisher and Margaret Honda, and to the recently deceased pioneer of avant-garde cinema in Argentina, Narcisa Hirsch. The Latin American contingent in the 2024 programme also includes the Mexican Annalisa Quagliataand the new section “Sinais Latin America” curated by Ivonne Sheen from Peru.

This 15th (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico has been organized by the eSe8 Cultural Association, and can count on the backing of the A Coruña City Council, the Tourism and Congresses Consortium, the A Coruña Provincial Council (Diputación), the Galician Agency for Cultural Industries of the Xunta (Regional Government) of Galicia, the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and the Luis Seoane Foundation, with special collaboration from Cervezas Alhambra.