‘ELIXIR’ SCHOLARSHPS IN HONOR OF AMY HALPERN 2025-2026
Amy Halpern’s presence in 2022 marked a turning point in the history of our festival and for all those who participated in that edition, after which, in just two months, she would pass away. Her personal legacy is known to those who remember her inspiring conversations (with practically everyone in the audience and on the team). These conversations gave rise to new creations that were presented in subsequent years at the Mostra. Her masterclass continues to be viewed on our YouTube channel, and of her films presented in A Coruña, we wanted to highlight ‘ELIXIR’, because for her it was “a love letter.” Furthermore, in alchemy and mysticism, the elixir of life was conceived as a panacea, a substance capable of curing all ailments and diseases. Whether to save her gifts and her light from oblivion, or to remedy the shortcomings in cultural policies in support of emerging experimental filmmakers, today we present these scholarships for the development of four film projects under that name.
It was her family and friends who decided to join forces so that we at (S8) could continue providing the support we have been offering in recent years, not without effort, to projects committed to creative cinema in analog format. In addition to the BAICC (International Artistic Film Creation Grants) award, this year there were four ELIXIR scholarships of €700, which had been given to the four INPUT 2025 participants as a boost to help them complete their projects.
At the conclusion of the INPUT process – Space for mentoring and advising film projects in development 2025, after the last online mentoring session between mentors and mentees, the mentors for this edition, Beli Martínez, Byron Davies, Raquel Scheffer, and Catarina de Sousa, were contacted for a final assessment. With all parties satisfied with the high standard of the participating projects and the progress made in the process, it was agreed to extend our support to the following projects: ‘OH MONO, ADIÓS’ BY PAOLA BUONTEMPO; ‘VÊHTIHIO’ BY VIOLETA SARMIENTO; ‘DE LA NOCHE A LA MAÑANA‘ BY ORISEL CASTRO; AND ‘¿QUÉ ES UNA MONTAÑA?’ BY FRAN RODRÍGUEZ CASAL. All of them received ELIXIR scholarships in honor of Amy Halpern to continue working on their projects.
eSe8_LAB thanks Nancy Halpern Ibrahim and Mahmood Ibrahim, as well as their family and friends, for their generosity in bringing this award to support emerging filmmakers to life. We will continue working to keep this “Elixir” alive over time, and with it, the spirit of our beloved Amy, filmmaker and educator.
eSe8_LAB AWARDS 2023-2024
In 2023, the Mostra launched five INPUT development awards of €600, which were bestowed upon five of those taking part in the INPUT 2023 Conference to give them a final boost, and an INPUT creation award endowed with €3,000 to complete a project with an artistic residency and give its subsequent premiere in the following (S8) in 2024.
At the end of the process for INPUT—Tutoring and Advice Space for film projects in development, following the last online tutorial last October between tutors and their pupils, this year’s tutors Albert Alcoz, Cloe Masotta, Giuseppe Spina, Helena Girón, Jessica Sarah Rinland and María Cañas were contacted to give a final assessment. Since all parties were satisfied with the good level of the participating projects as well as the headway made within the process, it was agreed to extend our support to the projects by Nicole Remy, Beatriz Freire, Louise Martin Papasian with Celeste Rojas Mugica, Carmen Pedrero, Álvaro Gómez Pidal and Pablo Agma.
The project by Nicole Remy, CON CIERTA LUZ (IN A CERTAIN LIGHT), tutored by Albert Alcoz, received the INPUT 2023 creation award, for €3,000. The result will be released in the next (S8) edition. All the others were benefited from separate INPUT development awards of €600 to continue working on developing their projects. Two of them, Pablo Agma (with “HOMBRE DE PALO”) and Beatriz Freire (with TÉXTIL EN EL MEDIO FÍLMICO) will be will be releasing their projects at (S8) 2024.
En 2024 fueron Daniela Delgado Viteri, Raffaella Rosset, Manuel Mateo Gómez y Bárbara Guerrero González las beneficiarias que recibieron este impulso económico a sus proyectos para su finalización: 4 premios eSe8_LAB 2024 al desarrollo dotados con una cantidad de 700€.
eSe8_LAB es un proyecto de la Asociación Cultural sin ánimo de lucro eSe8, que se desarrolló en el marco del (S8) Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico, gracias a la co-financiación de la Unión Europea – NextGenerationEU como parte del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia a través del Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales ICAA y que, actualmente, recibe el apoyo de la Axencia Galega de Industrias Culturais da Xunta de Galicia – Agadic.
eSe8_LAB SCHOLARSHIPS 2022
These scholarships were launched in the form of an economic prize to support film projects being carried out and to help creators produce their projects while lending them an international nature in an institution of international prestige, and to foster exchange with other auteurs in the European Union.
The eSe8_LAB Scholarships are funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, thanks to aid given to laboratories and incubators to create and carry out audiovisual projects.
(S8) launched these artistic pools in Europe through eSe8_LAB to bolster the work of training and give a boost to the production and development of emerging talent. It was with this intention that the collaboration with the BALTIC ANALOG LAB (BAL) of RIGA arose. This is a collective of artists and a film lab based in Riga, Latvia, which aims to produce, teach and inspire audiences by providing a space for creation, learning and training.
After a selection process, the Mostra awarded two prizes in 2022 to carry out two film projects under the artistic scholarship at the BAL in Riga.
This collaboration between (S8) in Galicia and BAL in Riga (Latvia) resulted in two international co-productions. They were presented by the filmmakers Helena Estrela (with her project Hot sun, late light) and María Pipla (with her project As time bends). Estrela and Pipla were in the programme of (S8) XIII Mostra Internacional de Cinema Periférico da Coruña festival in 2022, and again in 2023, when they gave the worldwide premiere for their latest pieces resulting from the eSe8_LAB Scholarships within the festival.
