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.
For the second BAICC, the filmmaker Aitziber Olaskoaga was hosted by LIFT in Canada. PMC – Principio Máquina de Coser (See-w-ing Machine Principal) was her joint proposal with Pilar Monsell. Together, they are the Prismáticas Collective, and their collaborative prototype, a SEE-W-ING MACHINE, is a device that combines a 16 mm projector and a sewing machine that enables them to sew and project films at the same time. The final outcome of this work, created over 5 weeks in Toronto, could be seen at its world premiere during the 10th (S8) Peripheral Film Festival or Mostra, which took place in A Coruña from 31st May to 9th June, 2019.
Propiedades de una esfera paralela (Properties of a parallel sphere) by Valentina Alvarado was the project chosen to be developed over five weeks at LIFT (Canada) in the third call for BAICC proposals. The final product was screened in its world premiere at the 11th (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico. This is a 16 mm double projection film in which the coldness of the Canadian landscape is subjected to a series of experiments that tropicalise it. Using mirrors, paint, fire, cut-out sceneries and various tricks in front of the camera (tricks that engage with each other in the double projection), Alvarado seems to be attempting to build a portable home, or even question what that uncertain place really is for her.
Frame Manoeuvres to Port by Bruno Delgado, which we were able to glimpse a preview of at the 12th Mostra, was the winning project for the 4th BAICC call. Due to the restrictions resulting from COVID-19, the project was carried out in September 2021 and premiered at the 13th (S8), which took place in A Coruña from 27th May to 5th June, 2022. Frame Manoeuvres to Port is a performance proposed by Bruno Delgado Ramo that seeks to put a territorial exploration in parallel with another exploration of the projection and filming devices themselves, highlighting the framing process itself as the very frame of the film by means of a dialogue between the harbour scenery of both Toronto and A Coruña.
Latitude Mesh by Agnès Hayden was the project chosen for the 7th BAICC. In September 2023, Agnès Hayden travelled to Toronto to work at the LIFT facilities on her innovative project focusing on research into artisanal photochemical emulsion. It is a film that puts different photosensitive emulsions into a dialogue: Kodak Tri-X, Kodak 3378 high contrast film and her own hand-made emulsion. The result is a profound study into the physical magnitudes of film, wonderfully expressed. Its world premiere took place at the 15th (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico film festival, which was held in A Coruña from 31st May to 9th June, 2024.
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.
TURTLE [chromatic passage #4] by Brenda Boyer was the project chosen in the 8th BAICC call for proposals. In September 2024, Brenda travelled to Canada to film in Toronto’s urban parks, applying the principles of chromatic separation with the help of LIFT’s optical printer to construct a film in which the natural environment vibrates through light, opening up a space of mystery within it. The film performance resulting from this residency was shown in A Coruña at the 16th (S8) in 2025.
Béal by Juana Robles is the latest project backed by BAICC. Béal (“Mouth” in Gaelic) is a cinematographic exploration of the intertwined histories, communities, and everyday life in Cabbagetown and Regent Park in Toronto. Based on their shared history of Irish immigration during the Great Irish Famine, the film reflects on how these neighbourhoods have been shaped by cycles of poverty, social housing, gentrification, and urban redevelopment. Béal will debut in June 2026 in A Coruña as part of the 17th (S8).
In this upcoming Mostra, the 10th call for BAICC proposals will be launched, remaining open to all who wish to present their projects until 28th June, 2026.
FOLLOW-UP AND PATH OF PROJECTS BENEFITTING FROM BAICC
The process is continually reviewed by (S8). During the residency, two interviews are conducted: one while the artwork is being created and another when it is presented at the (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico. The presentation presumably opens up new opportunities, both directly (with the professionals who attend) and indirectly, by the work resulting from BAICC being discovered by programmers from all over the world who check out the Mostra and its programme every year.
This is the case, for example, of See-w-ing Machine Project (PMC-Proyecto Máquina de Coser) by the Prismáticas collective, a BAICC project from 2018, which following its run at the (S8) festival was selected by CA2M – Centro de Arte 2 de Mayo as part of the Cine Revelado programme, and recently added to the programme at the MOMI in New York for the festival The Never Ending Screen of Val del Omar in March 2023.
Relieves, the project by Tono Mejuto from the first (S8), became part of the collection at the Gas Natural Union Fenosa Museum of Contemporary Art after being presented at the festival.
Valentina Alvarado‘s project Propiedades de una esfera paralela (Properties of a parallel sphere), the recipient of BAICC funding in 2019, was on the programme at Loop Barcelona, Xcèntric – CCCB, Filmoteca de Catalunya, La Escocesa de Barcelona, the Los Angeles Filmforum, the Museum of Moving Image (MoMI) and Anthology Film Archives (NY) in 2023, within the programme “Colección Privada: The Super 8 and 16 mm scene in Spain.” It was also part of the series RAÍCES AFUERA. CICLO DE PERFORMANCE DE ART MADRID ’25.
Frame Manoeuvres to Port by Bruno Delgado, a BAICC 2020 project premiered at the Mostra in 2021, took part in 2022 in: PRISME Argentique du futur (MIRE), Nantes; EXF F. Tage des experimentellen films Frankfurt; in 2023 in the Anthology Film Archives (New York); Zumzeig Cinema (Barcelona), CINETECA Madrid, Centre for Contemporary Arts (Glasgow); EXiS Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul; PESARO Film Festival (Pesaro); LIGHTFIELD, curated by Trisha Low (San Francisco); and in 2024 in Mono No Aware (New York).
After its premiere at (S8) in 2022, Laura Moreno Bueno’s film El sonido de las imágenes (The sound of images) was programmed at Filmadrid 2022, Images Festival, Pasajes Filmadrid and PROYECTOR Platform.
After its premiere at the 14th (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico film festival, the film Torontontero by Álvaro Feldman benefitting from the 6th BAICC residency was shown in September at the exf f. – tage des experimentellen films in Frankfurt
For its part Agnès Hayden’s film Latitude Mesh went on to the following festivals after its premiere in A Coruña in June 2024: Beijing International Short Film Festival (Beijing, China, 2024), Elevation Film Fest (Cornwall, UK, 2024), Peripheries Film Fest (Chicago, USA, 2024), Intermediaciones (Medellín, Colombia, 2024), Sorigrim Experimental Film & Documentary Screening (Seoul, South Korea, 2025) and Experiments in Cinema (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2025).
In addition to her film, Hayden had the opportunity, like Bruno Delgado in 2021 and Feldman in 2023, to hold a screening of her work in Canada before an exclusive audience of Toronto filmmakers at the Pix Film Gallery, an institution that collaborates with LIFT and (S8) in a unique opportunity to achieve international projection and feedback from international artists.
The latest of the BAICC pieces premiered, TORTUGA [chromatic passage #4] was featured at the 11th Festival Directed by Women Spain in the programme “Tocar el cielo con los ojos II. Sesión de piezas experimentales” (“Touching the sky with one’s eyes II. Experimental Pieces Session”). It then travelled to Canada along with other BAICC artworks on the tour organised by eSe8 in collaboration with AC/E, LIFT, CDFMC and the Embassy of Spain in Canada.
BAICC ON THE ROAD CANADIAN TOUR
Last October we finally made a long-awaited project come true: the BAICC on the Road programme, which kicked off the Canadian premiere for several of the Spanish-Canadian co-productions resulting from our BAICC Artistic Residencies for Film Creation.
Over the eight years that the residency has been running, the beneficiaries were welcomed into LIFT – the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, where they have created the artworks that were later premiered in (S8) in A Coruña. Until last October, none of these films had been presented where they were created: in Canada. Finally, these premieres were able to take place in Toronto with some of their creators attending.
The programme included two sessions: one for films (with Relieves by Mejuto Tone, 2018; El sonido de las imágenes by Laura Moreno, 2024; Latitude Mesh by Agnès Hayden, 2024; and Propiedades de una esfera paralela by Valentina Alvarado, 2020) and another session for film performances (with TORONTONTERO by Álvaro Feldman, 2023; and TURTLE [chromatic passage #4] by Brenda Boyer, 2025, projected by their creators). These sessions were held with great success among the audience that packed out the legendary Cinecycle counterculture venue in Toronto thanks to collaboration from the Canadian Filmmaker Distribution Centre (CFMDC), which hosted these activities.
In addition to these premieres, gatherings were arranged with filmmakers and programmers at the TIFF LIGHTBOX (within the programme Wavelengths in the Toronto International Film Festival), at Innis College – Cinema Studies of Toronto, and with students and teachers in the TMU – Toronto Metropolitan University’s Image Centre and Image Arts School at the Creative School.
BAICC on the Road enjoyed a very warm welcome and showed the extent to which our extensive collaboration with the Canadian community has resulted in a second home for (S8). It also highlighted how this collaboration is acting as a drive behind a generation that is taking on board certain practices and knowledge acquired in our residencies. It is a melting pot that we are involved in and which has shaped a revamped experimental film scene in Spain, attracting the attention of what was once the exemplary community of international avant-garde cinema.
The success of the programme therefore also brought with it the satisfaction of seeing that (S8) and our BAICC residences efficiently serve to promote Spanish cinema internationally.
BAICC – International Artistic Residencies for Film Creation 2025-26 are co-organised with Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and LIFT-Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, and are part of eSe8_LAB, our space for education, promotion, support, research and development of film projects.
BAICC on the Road was able to count on support from AC/E, AECID and the Embassy of Spain in Canada.
