To be continued

Although (S8) third edition officially ended on June 3 with Ensayo final para utopía, by Andrés Duque, and the exciting performance of the dancer Javier Martín, which came after the screening as a hypnotic flow, during the following week celluloid and appropriation were present at Centro Cultural Ágora in La Coruna. The American Naomi Uman gave the workshop El Kinder del Cine / The Kinder of Film, from 4 to 8 June, and the attendees could connect to the handwork and self-sufficiency of this unique and vital artist. At the same time it was an extending and perfect ending for an event that brings to the town the bold and stimulating life of film periphery, that place where there flows the real fountain of youth for this art. And the audience responded by participating in different screenings and activities: about 6,000 people visited the venues and events offered by (S8) this year.

(S8) gave us intense days and quite a few emotions. Beginning with the opening, the Palacio de la Ópera was a magnificent setting for Man with a movie camera, the ageless masterpiece by Dziga Vertov, with live music by Michael Nyman Band. A 35mm screening, it could not be otherwise, and with a strong and accurate Nyman. A superb opening for what came after, such as the presence of the legendary Austrian filmmaker and theoretician Peter Kubelka. In addition to his entire work, and the premiere of the documentary Fragments of Kubelka by Martina Kudlácek, his presence reached the highest point with his Master Class. Film, food, and his way of thinking, explained using so peculiar tools like an octopus with potatoes or a handful of raspberries. In the days after, we could see Kubelka, always anxious, learning how to make scrambled eggs at the restaurants in La Coruna or tracking Celtic signs in Galicia.

Dr. Victor Frankenstein came back to life in the compendium of modern Prometheus of the The New Monster program. In addition to the route proposed by the world of collage, we had the presence of Lewis Klahr and Janie Geiser, two of the most important experimental filmmakers today, who generously and carefully presented their work. Lewis Klahr, for the first time in Spain, showed his feature film The Pettifogger, the piece with which he reached his creative peak. Besides the pure enjoyment, there were opened fascinating lines of thought through which we could explore the meaning of collage in art history, and how it is enshrined in the avant-garde cinema now. Klahr and Geiser, through a superb carte blanche, left valuable trails of how deep is their own work when selecting films.

The Opera Prima section brought us all Super 8 movies that were successfully rescued thanks to Santiago Aguilar, Luis Guridi and Raúl Barbé, or whatever it is, La Cuadrilla before La Cuadrilla. They presented themselves, with humor and inappropriateness, a session whose title came in handy: “From punk prank to family cinema.” A session that rose more than laughter in their own authors.

In this edition we also coined new names for some of our sections. Desbordamientos / Overflows is now the category under which we find performative movies, expanded cinema and various live film showings. And in Overflows we could see the almost magical combination of animated fantasy and human body by Miwa Matreyek, for the first time in Spain, an event that generated (and fulfilled) high expectations. And we also witnessed the mysterious ways of telling of a long legacy of Super 8 films, thanks to the Argentina troupe led by Magdalena Arau that is Archivo Expandido, both end and beginning of the great Saturday night.

Sinais is the new name of the section devoted to the other film formats in Galicia. Alberte Pagán was the subject of a retrospective that covered almost all of his work, which was supported by the presence of the filmmaker and the possibility of a discussion about his own work. Sinais also hosted the European premiere of La Brecha, by Marcos Nine, an introduction to the creative and theoretical universe of this project started by Rodrigo Losada. We also linked with some of the art installations present in (S8), among them the realization of the installation of La Brecha, in which we could explore the project ideas or the scientific classification of its results, and even enter its complex universe through a portable laboratory that ranged from fundamental theoretical basis to several devices for slides and film handling. An invitation to adventure. The 20th anniversary of Vila do Conde began in La Coruna also with an art installation, a large black box in the Ágora Hall in which each day of the festival it was screened a significant work in the career of the Portuguese festival.

And there are still many things to list. For example, the presence of the virtual office of Super 8 lost memories, Your Lost Memories; the professional meeting, under the title “From black box to white cube” opened fruitful lines of joint work among festivals and art centers; the presence of Cineteca Nacional de México showed us the bizarre trajectory of the Galician Juan Orol who emigrated to Mexico; the festival for children that each year gets a better reception: the Mini (S8), which included a special session by Miwa Matreyek and an imaginative workshop following the work of the Canadian animator Norman McLaren; and even the exhibition of light paintings by Picasso in the Ágora Hall, a symbolic combination of painting and film. And all this without telling the meetings, talks, parties and celebrations around the Mostra of these days, full of different meanings for everyone.

So much for the recap, a brief writing of this third edition to be rewritten in the memory of everyone who attended it. Because what really motivates us now is to look ahead, the fourth edition of (S8). We would like to continue with everything written so far, as we begin to plot, restless, what there will come in 2013. And though we have just finished, the countdown begins for us until the next Festival. Hard work but moved by the enthusiasm, we hope it will bear better and more flavorful fruit. We invite everyone to the meeting which will be late spring 2013. This has only just begun.