The creators of the Ambulante documentary film festival wanted to celebrate their fifteen-year-old party in style until the pandemic crossed their plans. The new situation forced to change the big screen for computers and devices. Thanks to the effort of the festival team, in a few weeks Ambulante appeared in your house.
Between April 29 and May 28, the public will be able to watch 65 documentaries for free through the festival platform www.ambulante.org and then participate in virtual colloquia with directors and actors. "The challenge is to find digitally that capacity that we have to organize ourselves in public spaces in Mexico," says Verne Paulina Suárez, director of the festival.
The motto chosen for this anniversary is Transits ; which invites to see into the future, imagining new strategies for the promotion of non-fiction cinema as a vehicle for social transformation. The challenge in the midst of the pandemic is to create a community around documentary cinema despite the coldness of the confinement.
"There are an infinity of issues that continue to be relevant to our existence and that will be relevant to our future. Ambulante is a recovery of that dynamic public sphere. We are isolated at home but in this country journalists continue to be threatened, the situation for women It is very difficult and we continue to fight for the decriminalization of abortion. We must find ways to organize ourselves to fight for them from home, which lasts this confinement, "explains Paulina Suárez.
The viewer-turned-user will find an experience shared with the rest of the people who watch the documentary. Suárez explains that through social networks, work has been done to nurture that sense of community. "We have to be home but we must not stop being connected and be part of this collective reflection of that world that was put on hold," said Diego Luna, co-creator with Gael García Bernal of the festival during the virtual press conference they offered. "Stay home and then connect to understand everything through art," adds Paulina Suárez.
The documentary Silencio radio , directed by Juliana Fanjul, which follows the censorship experienced by journalist Carmen Aristegui after the publication of the investigation 'La Casa Blanca de Enrique Peña Nieto', will be available from 00.00 on April 29 until 23.59. , about which he was president of Mexico between 2012 and 2018.
This new challenge of making a whole festival through a digital platform invites to reflect on new narratives and how to get those stories to more viewers who share their ideas and reflections despite the isolation and social distance.
Follow Verne México on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and don't miss your daily ration of Internet wonders.