Since 2003, CineEsquemaNovo is recognized as one of the first festivals in the country to overturn the formal distinction between formats, media and audiovisual genres, promoting legitimacy and the autonomy of these cinematographic processes simultaneously.
CEN, as it is also known, brings to light the audiovisual renovation provided by access to new technologies and the mixture of genres that, almost always, marks contemporary Brazilian production. Once again integrating generations of creativity, CEN 2008 will run through October 11 - 17, at Centro Cultural Usina do Gasômetro, at Cine Santander Cultural, and at universities (ESPM, PUCRS, Ulbra, and UFRGS).
Thanks to these beliefs, since its first edition, CineEsquemaNovo could screen, in the same session, a one-shot abstract short in DV; a new 35mm fiction short film; a research on the historical archives of national cinema in 16mm; a psychedelic animation with the latest technological resources in Beta Digital; an ethnographic documentary full of poetry, in HD; photographic montages transformed into a moving image; a VHS short film with intentionally heavy 'trash' aesthetics; or, finally, whatever emerges from surprising, innovative, creative and experimental. What always matters is the search, the strength of the idea, and the way in which these come through on the screen.
This year, seven sections make up the festival's schedule. Competitive screenings include the Feature Films Section (ML), the Short and Medium (MC), and the Classroom Screening. The sections out of competition, on the other hand, are composed of the Mostra Mão Dupla (Two-Way Screening - MMD), the Midnight Screening (MN), the Minas Film Section (MFM), and the International Sessions (SIN).
CineEsquemaNovo 2008's main new attraction is more room for feature films. Now, in addition to increasing the number of selected features to six, these films will occupy the festival's evening program at their main headquarters, along with short and medium films.
This decision is the result of a natural evolution of CineEsquemaNovo and the context of the country's audiovisual production. What happens today with feature films is similar to what happened with short films in 2001, when the concept of the festival first appeared in conversations among the organizers.
Currently, there is a volume of innovative, surprising, and authoritative productions of long duration, and at the same time, there is a lack of screenings and debate windows - both at festivals and the commercial circuit. From 2001 until the first CEN, in 2003, the scenario was exactly the same for the production of short films, today much more integrated with the media and the new windows compared to a recent scenario of exclusion and disinterest. To complete this context, it is important to note that many directors whose worked were screened and awarded at CEN in past editions have now moved on to feature films, completing a cycle that has not been unnoticed by the organization of CineEsquemaNovo. An example of this remarkable movement is the submission of 68 films for this category.
The Short and Medium Film Screenings continues with its permanent relevance within the festival, screening 36 films out of 938 submitted this year. Many of them were produced in the latest months of 2008, revealing the vitality of an increasingly diversified and democratic production, in the most distinct meanings that these words can have between them. Fostering the basis of this creative process, as always, CEN's competitive scope is completed in 2008 with the Mostra Sala de Aula, which screens the best that has been produced in universities, courses, schools, and film workshops across the country.
The relationship and tension between film and other art forms, an issue that has been present and defended by CineEsquemaNovo since its first edition, also gains more space this year at Mostra Mão Dupla, the main attraction among non-competitive programs. The original idea of MMD belongs to Gelson Radaelli: an artist dedicated to drawing and painting, and a Porto Alegre resident, Radaelli is the creator of the image that illustrates CineEsquemaNovo 2008.
This special retrospective, set up by curators Gabriela Motta and Fabiano Souza and headquartered exclusively at Cine Santander Cultural, will screen works that describe the past and the present of this historical approach between cinema and the arts. These are different programs that celebrate inventiveness applied to the image from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.
As the curators say, “the Mão Dupla section seeks to highlight the paths that bifurcate when artists of twin sensibilities who work with different poetics draw their creative matches and conceive a unique and plural work at the same time. Here, the magnet that brings together all the pieces of sensitivity is the image. Filmmakers, video-makers, writers, musicians, performers, visual artists, and people who are all of this at the same time, all gravitate around it. Two-Way / Mão Dupla is now everything because it brings together TV - cinema - video - clip - performance. And now, it makes a point of visiting yesterday and projecting tomorrow, all living together in the heart of the invention sown by dialogue.
The Films in Minas Sreening (Mostra Filmes em Minas) also deserves to be highlighted: it brings to the screens of Porto Alegre a model for the development of the creative industries that deserves attention, not only because it is successful, but mainly because it generates works of undisputed interest. Its program is composed of productions made possible by the eponymous public notice for the promotion of audiovisual production, maintained by the government of Minas Gerais through its tax exemption program for the sector. Free from the neurosis of commercial viability and the immediate interests of the sponsors, many of these films are good examples of authorial creation integrated into the art system, both through public policies for audiovisual development and the interests of companies that use incentive laws resources.
The Midnight Sessions will go on at CEN 2008 as usual, attracting its captive audience with out-of-competition productions, invited by the festival or performed by people involved with its organization.
And it is within this context that the festival presents another novelty this year, which is here to stay: the International Sessions. These are films specially invited by the organizers of CEN and which bring contributions from filmmakers from other parts of the world regarding issues dear to CineEsquemaNovo's beliefs: independent production, research in narrative formats, artistic provocation, and different circuits of audiovisual exhibition.
The long guests of CEN 2008 are Loren Cass, by Chris Fuller (USA), and Body Rice, by Hugo Vieira da Silva (Portugal). The American film is an integral part of the Midnight program; The Portuguese production, in its turn, will be screened before the awards.
There is a point in common in both films: the construction of an imaginary, an environment, and a story, from a portion of the reality. Whether in the tumultuous teenage relationship in Florida in the 1990s (Loren Cass) or in the unsuspected temporary migration of young people from Germany to the south of Portugal from the 1980s onwards (Body Rice), the two features come from an interesting concept of “historical fact" translated to the screen - in this case, through very different paths.
Everything was done so that Porto Alegre receives, over the course of a week, the most exciting audiovisual productions, in a panorama assembled with care - and for free - for those who want to see it. May you, like us, be able to make the most of it.
PARALLEL PROGRAMME CEN
Two-Way Screening / Mostra Mão Dupla: Curated by Gabriela Motta and Fabiano Souza and headquartered at Cine Santander Cultural, a series of works that describe the past and present of the historical approach of Cinema to the Visual Arts were screened. Creativity, sensitivity, and poetics permeated this section that brought together TV, cinema, video, and performance, visiting yesterday and projecting tomorrow. “Quimera”, by Tunga and Erik Rocha; “Quarta-feira de Cinzas”, by Cao Guimarães and Rivane Neuenschwander (MG); “Um Cão Andaluz”, by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí (França); “Entr’acte”, by René Clair and Francis Picabia (França); “A Perna Cabiluda”, by Marcelo Gomes, Beto Normal, Gil Vicente and João Vieira de Melo Vieira Júnior (PE) were some of the films screened.
Mostra Filme em Minas: a program composed of productions enabled by the eponymous public notice for the promotion of audiovisual production, maintained by the government of Minas Gerais through its tax exemption program for the sector. The following Minas Gerais productions were screened: “Nos Olhos de Mariquinha”, by Júnia Torres and Cláudia Mesquita; “A Demolição”, by Aleques Eiterer, and “Nascente”, by Helvécio Martins Jr.; “Paraisópolis”, by Sérgio Borges; “Mercúrio”, by Sávio Leite; and “O Crime da Atriz”, by Elza Cataldo.
Midnight Screening: out-of-competition productions, invited by the festival or produced by people involved with the organization, such as “Arrombada – Vou Mijar na Porra do seu Túmulo!!!”, by Peter Baiestorf (SC); “Mesa de Bar”, by Pedro Nora and Tiago Ribeiro (RS); “Piknik”, by Luiz Roque e Mariana Xavier (RS); “Os Boçais”, by Lufe Bollini (RS); “Ex-votos”, by Geraldo Tavares (RS); among others.
International Sessions: films specially invited by the organizers of CEN and which bring contributions from filmmakers from other parts of the world regarding issues dear to CineEsquemaNovo's beliefs: independent production, research in narrative formats, artistic provocation, and different circuits of Audiovisual exhibition. The feature films “Loren Cass”, by Chris Fuller (USA) and “Body Rice”, by Hugo Vieira da Silva (Portugal) were screened.
WORKSHOPS: Two-Way Workshop - Contaminations between Cinema and Visual Arts: with Gabriela Motta (RS) and Fabiano de Souza (RS); Film Criticism Workshop: with Marcelo Lyra (SP).
OFFICIAL JURY AWARDS [Bernardo de Souza (RS), Marcelo Lyra (SP), Mariana Xavier (RS), Milton do Prado (RS) and Pablo Lobato (MG)]
Special Jury Award
“Pan-Cinema Permanente”, by Carlos Nader (SP)
(83min - 2008 / HDV Z1 1080i, 24ps; Hi8; Super 8; EX1 Cannon DV)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: “Life is a dream. Sailormoon, make me an instrument of your pleasure”.
Best Feature Film
“O Fim da Picada”, by Christian Saghaard (SP)
(80min - 2008 / 35 mm)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: “A dementia film that exorcises its demons without time and space limits. A Saci film”.
Best short or medium-length film
“Espuma e Osso”, by Ticiano Monteiro and Guto Parente (CE)
(20min - 2007 / Sony Z1 - 29.97fps - DV 720 × 480)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: “Mickey Mouse's melancholy in two stages”.
Best experimentation: Editing
“Anabazys”, by Paloma Rocha and Joel Pizzini (RJ)
(98min - 2007 / miniDV - digital camera; 35 mm - final format)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: “Spatial and historical experience: choreographed by Pizzini and Paloma, a pair of editors invites Glauber for a dance”.
Best experimentation: composition
“KO”, by Dellani Lima (MG)
(5min - 2008 / Avi, Mpeg, Quicktime)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: "The screen that makes wind light minimum".
Best experimentation: composition
“Ocidente”, by Leonardo Sette (PE)
(7min - 2007 / Sony hc7 - HDV - PAL - 25fps - 16: 9)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: "Possible windows, travel companies".
Best experimentation: device
“Sábado à Noite”, by Ivo Lopes Araújo (CE)
(62min - 2007 / HDV; Beta SP; DVD)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: "To approach the bird not to capture it, not to see it fly, but to approach it. Stop to think, think very well, notice that the day comes".
CineEsquemaNovo Trophy (by the CEN crew)
Luiz Carlos V. Coelho, director of the short film “Cançó d'Amor”.
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: ”As it represents a generation that did not have the same means as the current one to develop an audiovisual production, but that still has time, ideas, and willingness to immerse itself in the recent alternatives of realization, the CineEsquemaNovo Trophy goes to the 'New Old Filmmaker', or' Old New Filmmaker'”.
The gaucho painter Luiz Carlos Coelho starred in the film “Cão Sem Dono”, by Beto Brant and Renato Ciasca, thus beginning his career as a filmmaker.
Best feature film (by the students of the Cinema Critical Workshop)
“O Fim da Picada”, by Christian Saghaard (SP)
(80min - 2008 / 35 mm)
JURY’S JUSTIFICATION: “For his concern in working with the various possibilities provided by the cinematographic language, which is in line with the proposal of CineEsquemaNovo; in addition to dialoguing with influences such as Borders Cinema within a social concern”.
POPULAR JURY AWARDS (NOTES 1 TO 5)
Best short or medium-length film
1st Place: “A Maravilhosa Cozinha”, by Juliano Reina (RS)
(6min40 - 2007 / fully digital animation)
Average: 4,247
2nd Place: “Povo Lindo, Povo Inteligente”, by Sérgio Gagliardi (SP)
(50min - 2008 / Panasonic HVX200-29.97fps-480-mini DV-4: 3)
Average: 4,182
Best Feature Film
“Pan-Cinema Permanente”, by Carlos Nader (SP)
(83min - 2008 / HDV Z1 1080i, 24ps; Hi8; Super 8; EX1 Cannon DV)
Average: 4,704
Classroom Screening (Mostra Sala de Aula)
1st Place: “Táxi para o Devaneio”, by Eder Augusto, Ansgar Ahlers and Dirk Manthey (SP / ALE)
(12min - 2007 / miniDV / Kinoforum Cultural Association)
Average: 4,461
2nd Place: “A Céu Aberto”, by Alexandre Kumpinski (RS)
(7min25 - 2008 / Panasonic PVGS320 - 30fps - 720/480 - 16: 9 / PUC-RS)
Average: 4,178
