This activity—which takes place before (S8) kicks off every year— is organised with backing from the Emalcsa Foundation and collaboration from the Luis Seoane Foundation. It also includes participation from the ADCOR Foundation, the ASPERGA Association and Red Cross users.
Xpresa workshop is supported by Fundación Emalcsa. PHOTOS: Andrea R. and A. Morandeira.
The (S8) International Peripheral Film Festival or Mostra rounded off its pre-festival programme this weekend with Xpresa, the social inclusion film workshop organised with support from Emalcsa Foundation via its Accessible and Inclusive Culture programme. Split into two sessions, the workshop was led by the Mexican visual artist Marcela Cuevas, and began on Friday 29th with the Adcor Foundation, an entity committed to improving the lives of dependent adults. On Saturday 30th it was the turn of the users from Asperga, the Galician Asperger Association, and the people supported by the Red Cross International Protection Reception System.
The proposal they worked on, guided by Cuevas, was to create an abstract self-portrait that could be presented as a collaborative work. To do so, they created moving images using collage techniques and drawing on acetate. They also explored objects, personal archives, and plants in the surrounding area with a microscope, and recorded their voices on a cassette. The outcome, projected at the end of each session, was captivating with its aesthetics and the artisanal nature of the process. It achieved the goal of representing the diversity and unique characteristics of the users, boosting their possibilities for integration.
The ADCOR Foundation, the ASPERGA Association, and the Red Cross participated in the workshop.
Xpresa is a workshop that breaks the mould when it comes to sparking enthusiasm for cinema, providing participants with a mechanism to experience and express their own universe via the free and stimulating creation of personal cinematic works. Since it began, it has been directed by internationally renowned filmmakers and visual artists with creative working methods focusing particularly on the importance of the process itself. In previous years, the workshop has been led by filmmakers such as the Argentinian Pablo Mazzolo, the Chilean Jeannette Muñoz, the Portuguese Tânia Dinis, the Chilean-Canadian Franci Durán, the Venezuelan-Spanish Andrés Duque, and the Spaniards Ainhoa Rodríguez and Deneb Martos.
Marcela Cuevas
This time, it was directed by the Mexican filmmaker, photographer and artist Marcela Cuevas, who was at (S8) last year to present her work Electuario: plantas para el duelo (Electuary: plants for mourning) (2024), a cinematic poem in which she delves deeper into her commitment to alchemy and the blending of formats as a form of expression. Cuevas has a background education in photography, psychology, and the anthropology of art, as well as being an expert in experimental film education, therapeutic support through art, creative writing, set design, and community video. Her work has been presented in museums, cultural sites and festivals in Mexico, Australia, the United States, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, Paraguay, Spain, Chile, Guatemala, Bolivia and Ecuador. She also works with non-governmental organisations, giving workshops and using art as a tool to raise awareness of social problems and to help create and sustain support networks.
This activity, which is part of the educational proposals in (S8), is organised by the eSe8 Cultural Association to provide a respectful, open space for experimentation, enjoying cinema as a sensory, playful and creative experience. Xpresa can count on specific support from the Emalcsa Foundation. The 17th (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico is to be held in A Coruña between 2nd and 7th June, 2026. It is sponsored by the Concellería de Cultura e Turismo of the Concello da Coruña, and the support of the Deputación da Coruña, the Axencia Galega das Industrias Culturais (Agadic), Instituto da Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA), Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and the Fundación Luis Seoane.
