A decade of Ikusmira Berriak
Last year the Ikusmira Berriak team invited me to make and publish a series of videos on the program's 10th anniversary. The proposal consisted of producing short video capsules to compile a film diary on the memories and ties created by filmmakers who participated in the residency, during that period of work.
Being a filmmaker and a former resident myself, I was delighted not only at the open and flexible nature of the proposal, but also at the idea of being able to gather the experiences of other filmmakers who had also wrestled with that time of doubts and collective reflection on a series of films as yet to be... My thoughts for the series was that it would be interesting to 'change the dialogue' and propose a way of re-writing it.
I felt that it was important to leave space for a rough draft, as we had done while completing the programme; but there also had to be a place for reflection on the influence of having participated in the residency on the subsequent journey undertaken by the films.
Thus I suggested that, as well as answering questions, each filmmaker could send us what could be construed as a reverse shot of that sort of "self-interview". An anecdote on something that may have occurred around the piece, an omission or divergence, if you like.
The idea of these diaries being recorded by the moviemakers themselves showered us with a confetti of formats and renderings; some filmed using their mobile phones, others with a computer, using video cameras, or whatever they had to hand. In a living room, waiting for a train, by a lake, in other's or dearly loved bedrooms...
The design of the sound featuring in the capsules also highlights the lapses and procrastinations of some creative processes. I remembered that frustrating (and even perhaps funny) experience of going to a commercial cinema only to hear the sound of explosions coming from another action movie showing in the cinema next door.
Each capsule therefore comes with music that feels as if it was composed for other reasons. A dog barks, noise filters in through the window... The actual sounds of the films shared by the filmmakers can be heard at the start and end of each video, as though trying to wriggle out of the format itself. This may be due to the somewhat Frankenstein-type approach of the interviews, with no specific shape; but then isn't that perhaps what almost all processes are like?
The invitation from the residency and Ikusmira Berriak to think back and collectively remember somehow invites us to recall and talk about the things that occur around any project or idea. Memories not necessarily connected to the films and their success, but to discussions over lunch, memories, spaces, affections (and disaffections), random (or not) images that come to mind... And above all, to try and understand the mysterious way these films continue to make their way around the festival screens, showings, press releases, red carpets (glamour permitting), small towns, big cities, press files, emails, download links... Small mentions in local rags, comments in bars, chats in supermarket queues (provided that the film is a big enough hit). Sharing these memories is also a generous way to highlight processes and ways of doing things, at the end of the day, to share thoughts, geographies, communities.
I hope that this exercise will open space for further questions, memories and curiosity on the different ways of making movies. It may also bring us closer to the stories and films of those moviemakers who share the ins and outs of their projects during that time of meetings, lunches, writings, walks, dances and ideas of what Ikusmira Berriak was and still is.
By Magdalena Orellana
Music: Julio César Martín Rodríguez
