Less than a month before its official opening, the (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico has revealed the big names in international experimental cinema attending the event in A Coruña from 3 to 8 June, with more films made by women, more live films, and a tribute to the Super 8 format, which this year is celebrating 60 years since it was first launched.
The 16th Mostra is presenting a very diverse international programme with over 100 films from 60 filmmakers, including retrospectives never before seen, international premieres and performance events from countries like Venezuela, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland, the UK, Canada, the USA, Senegal, Uganda, Spain and Galicia.
CARLOS CASTILLO, DANIELA CUGLIANDOLO AND SUPER 8
The emergence of the Super 8 format has played a unique role in the history of experimental cinema, boosting freedom for today’s renowned creators in their early forays. Such is the case of Carlos Castillo. Born in Caracas in 1942, he is one of the most prominent figures in Venezuelan art, belonging to a legendary generation of Super 8 artists from the Caribbean country. It was there, towards the end of the 70s, where he was at the helm of the Caracas Super 8 Film Festival, one of the world’s meccas for cinema in this format. In 1981, he brought Super 8 to the Cannes Film Festival for the first time, marking a milestone in the history of the format.
For him, cinema is an artistic activity from shooting to screening, in which he interacts with the live image. This is something we will be able to experience at (S8), where there will be the first retrospective of his filmography in Europe, with all of the works screened in their original format. With titles like Esta película está que quema! (1980), Intento de vuelo fallido (1982) and Hecho en Venezuela (1977), his works have been the subject of study for their influence on experimental cinema. The audience at the Mostra will also be able to enjoy a masterclass given by the director himself on the history of Venezuelan avant-garde Super 8 cinema.
Venezuelan artist Carlos Castillo. Photo: Vasco Szinetar | T.V.O. (1979) and Uno para todos and todo para todos…_! (1980), Carlos Castillo
While Castillo represents the pioneers of Super 8, the Argentine Daniela Cugliandolo is considered to be the bridge between that generation of filmmakers and today’s, who continue to shoot in analogue. Cugliandolo’s work, which began in 1999, marks the turn of the millennium and also the new approaches to Super 8 at a time when it seemed doomed to succumb to video. In A Coruña, she will be presenting works such as Nosferatu 2000 (1999) and Gina (1999), in which she toys with the codes of silent cinema. There will also be more recent films more akin to surrealism, like Flama (Flame) (2016) and Gaias (2021).
Daniela Cugliandolo. Las Mucamas asesinas (trilogía) (2000) and Gaias (2021)
FEMALE CREATORS SHINE AT THE FESTIVAL WITH ARTISTS LIKE BETZY BROMBERG AND JEANNETTE MUÑOZ
Around two-thirds of the titles on this year’s (S8) calendar have been directed by women, with outstanding programmes, retrospectives, works as-yet unseen in Spain, and premieres with their authors attending the screenings.
We will be welcoming international icon Betzy Bromberg, an American, to go through her long career with her. This ranges from her early films featuring punk, feminism and criticism of the New York system in the 1970s, to her later films, edging towards delicate work with abstraction. Over these three sessions, Bromberg will review her work projected in 16 mm, including the first screening in Spain of two of her feature films, a Darkness Swallowed (2005) and Glide of Transparency (2016).
Betzy Bromberg. Ciao Bella (1978) and Glide of transparency (2016)
The Chilean Jeannette Muñoz, for her part, will premiere two of her new films at (S8), Fuente Alemana (2024) and El Cortijo (2025) dedicated to unique enclaves in Chile and beyond, reflecting on the relationship forged with these places from a migrant’s perspective. Acknowledged as the leading woman in contemporary world avant-garde cinema, she conceives her works as an open, organic process, which she will demonstrate with the series of filmed letters Envíos (2005–2025) and the screening of Puchuncaví (2025), where she includes a performance connecting sewing with personal memory and the origins of cinema itself.
Jeannette Muñoz. Puchuncaví (2025) and Envíos (2025)
The 16th (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico is being organised by the eSe8 Cultural Association and sponsored by A Coruña City Council’s Department of Culture and Tourism with backing from the Galician Agency of Cultural Industries of the Government (Xunta) of Galicia (Agadic), the Provincial Council of A Coruña, the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and the Luis Seoane Foundation.
