BAICC – INTERNATIONAL ARTISTIC RESIDENCES FOR CINEMATOGRAPHIC CREATION
In 2017, the first International Artistic Residencies for Cinematographic Creation, BAICC, were launched, promoted by the (S8) International Peripheral Film Festival of A Coruña. This involves a selection process to take part in a residency to produce an audiovisual work shot in analogue format (35 mm, 16 mm, 8 mm or super 8) in Toronto, Canada. It is a project that was greatly sought after by (S8), which materialised thanks to the support of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), reaffirming the Mostra’s strong commitment to artistic production and creation in alternative spaces.
LIFT is an internationally prestigious non-profit organisation, founded in 1981. It is directed by artists and works to promote excellence in film creation via training, providing technical and production resources, and disseminating creations in such formats.
AC/E – Acción Cultural Española’s activities include organising and holding exhibitions, events and initiatives to disseminate and promote Spain’s cultures and the professionals linked to them, boosting their international projection and the creation of networks among professionals and institutions.
The International Artistic Residences for Cinematographic Creation known as BAICC are intended to continue with a line of work and research that seeks to open up new paths for emerging creators, helping create channels for exchange with an institution of international relevance: LIFT, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, while networking with international bodies and professionals from all over the world who visit it.
INTENTIONS, CAPACITY FOR TRANSFORMATION, AND GENDER PERSPECTIVE
BAICC is the only international artistic residency for cinematographic creation in Spain. It was set up due to the desire to have a type of artistic residence in our country for the kind of cinema that delves into new cinematographic languages. It is therefore a residency that fosters a more artistic, auteur cinema, opening up new avenues and offering the possibility for a Spanish filmmaker to carry out a project in an exclusive, international environment. It is a truly unique opportunity.
The results of the residency are premiered within (S8), giving the creators the chance to present their work to the Mostra’s international public and interact with it. The (S8) thereby generates its own content by programming the project resulting from these residences, while empowering and supporting new talents both financially and in their future career path, giving them credit as part of the programme in (S8), which many entities, events and professionals from all over the world look to every year.
The selection for a BAICC scholarship has always been based on equality, with a total of three female filmmakers and three male ones.
The location of this residency in Canada offers the opportunity for the beneficiaries to gain access to other communities, as well as opening up a space for new work environments, thus enriching both the beneficiary and the environment they will live in.
HISTORY
After the successful first call received more than 15 proposals, Relieves (Reliefs) by Tono Mejuto was the project selected to be created over five weeks at the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. We were able to see the final result at its world premiere at the 9th Mostra de Cinema Periférico (2018). The proposal dealt with the city and its ‘reliefs’. Using an approach with stereoscopic film shooting and projection in 16 mm, a film of observation with pulse and rhythm was proposed. It was a tour around the life of downtown Toronto on some winter days.
Propiedades de una esfera paralela (Properties of a parallel sphere) by Valentina Alvarado was the project selected to be created throughout five weeks at LIFT (Canada) in the third round of BAICC. The final outcome was screened in a world premiere during the 9th (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico, which took place in A Coruña from 27 September to 3 October, 2020, outside the usual festival dates, which had to be changed as consequence of the pandemic outbreak.
Frame Manoeuvres to Port by Bruno Delgado, an advance of which we were able to see at the 12th (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico, was the finalist of the projects for the 4th BAICC call. Due to the restrictions arising from COVID-19, the project was carried out in September 2021 and premiered in the 13th (S8), which took place in A Coruña from 27 May to 5 June, 2022.
For its fifth call, launched in May 2021, BAICC selected Laura Moreno Bueno’s project El sonido de las imágenes (The sound of images) as a finalist. Over five weeks in February and March 2022, Moreno was able to carry out her project at LIFT in Toronto: a 16 mm film performance using photosensitive microphones to translate images into sounds. The result of her work was seen at the 13th (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico: from 27 May to 5 June 2022, together with the presentation of the work by Bruno Delgado. Two BAICC projects, for its 4th and 5th call for proposals, were therefore presented as world premieres in the thirteenth (S8). That event also announced the launch of the 6th call.
The 14th (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico film festival saw the premiere of Torontontero, a film by Álvaro Feldman, who was awarded the 6th BAICC residency. Feldman explored the possibilities of optical printing and different manual techniques for developing film in order to achieve a diversity of structures with which to construct the film, shot in Toronto. It is a film that was to be as reversible as possible, giving rise to a map of images that repeats itself infinitely but never in the same way. In the resulting performance, Feldman continued to fragment and expand the images, seeking to de-centralize one’s gaze to let it move freely between the multiple shots and reconstruct the film at all times, with no beginning or end.
Latitude Mesh by Agnès Hayden was the project chosen for the last BAICC. In September 2023, Agnès Hayden travelled to Toronto to work at the LIFT (Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto) facilities on her innovative project concentrating on research into artisanal photochemical emulsion. It is a film that puts different photosensitive emulsions into dialogue: Kodak Tri-X, Kodak 3378 high contrast film and her own hand-made emulsion. The film is a profound study into the physical magnitudes of film. It is wonderfully expressed, leaving us eager for its world premiere next Thursday, 6th June at the 15th (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico film festival.
TORTUGA [pasaje cromático #4]’, by Brenda Boyer was the project chosen in the last invitation from BAICC, the International Artistic Residency for Cinematographic Creation promoted by (S8) together with AC/E and LIFT. In September 2024, Brenda travelled to Toronto to work at the LIFT (Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto) facilities and to shoot in Toronto’s urban parks, implementing the principles of chromatic separation and constructing a film in which the natural environment vibrates through light, opening up a space of mystery within. We talked with her about it all and the treasures she has found in her chromatic walk. The film performance resulting from this residency can be seen in A Coruña next June at the 16th (S8).
FOLLOWING UP THE TRAJECTORY OF THE PROJECTS BENEFITING FROM BAICC
The process is always ongoing. During the residency itself, two interviews are carried out: one while the work is being created and another during its presentation at the (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico. The presentation presumably provides an opening to new opportunities, both directly (with the professionals attending) and indirectly thanks to the work resulting from the BAICC being discovered by programmers from all over the world who look towards the Mostra and its programme every year. This is the case, for example, of PMC- Proyecto Máquina de Coser (Sewing Machine Project) by the Prismáticas Collective, a BAICC project in 2018. After being seen at the (S8) festival, it was selected by the CA2M Centro de Arte 2 de Mayo within the Cine Revelado programme, and was recently programmed at MOMI in New York within the film festival “The Never-Ending Screen of Val del Omar” in March 2023. Furthermore, Tono Mejuto’s Relieves, a project for the first (S8), became part of the collection in the Gas Natural Unión Fenosa Museum of Contemporary Art after being presented at the festival.
Propiedades de una esfera paralela (Properties of a parallel sphere), a project by Valentina Alvarado benefitting from a BAICC scholarship in 2019, was on the programme at Loop Barcelona, Xcèntric (CCCB), the Filmoteca de Catalunya, La Escocesa in Barcelona and the Los Angeles Filmforum in 2023.
Frame Manoeuvres to Port, by Bruno Delgado, a BAICC project in 2020, participated in EXF F. Tage des experimentellen films Frankfurt (2022), BilboArte, Wiels Bruselas, La casa encendida, Punto de Vista, Tabakalera – San Sebastián, ZumZeig – Barcelona (2023), INJUVE, Espacio de Arte Santa Clara del ICAS, Sevilla and Mono No Aware (New York) in 2024.
The last of the pieces presented resulting from a BAICC, El sonido de las imágenes (The sound of images) by Laura Moreno Bueno, was on the programme at Filmadrid 2022, Images Festival, Pasajes Filmadrid and PROYECTOR Platform after its premiere at (S8) 2022.
In addition to his film, Feldman had the opportunity, like Bruno Delgado in 2021, to hold a screening of his work in Canada in front of an exclusive audience of Toronto filmmakers at the Pix Film Gallery, an institution that collaborates with LIFT and (S8), which was a unique opportunity for both of them to achieve international projection and feedback from international artists.
After its premiere at the 14th (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico film festival, the film by Álvaro Feldman, who was awarded the 6th BAICC residency, Torontontero was shown in September at exf f. – tage des experimentellen films Frankfurt.
Finally, Latitude Mesh, by Agnès Hayden was part of the official section of the Experiments in Cinema festival (Albuquerque, NM, USA) in April 2025, months after its world premiere at (S8) in A Coruña.