SPIRIT OF MEKAS

Doubt is what makes us delve into ourselves and the events around us. Art in general and cinema in particular separate us from the hysteria of the productive world and take us into a more poetic one, where we celebrate diversity and can thus face the transformations in our communities, generating the necessary dialogues to continue with our human endeavor.

📅 23rd Nov, 7.30pm (screening starts at 8pm)

📍St Peter’s Church, Lutton Place, Newington, Edinburgh, EH8 9PE

Spirit of Mekas is a celebration of the courage it takes to face existence with humor and optimism up to a contagious level. It is a desire to explore new territories in order to widen the range of choices we have. Watching experimental film is a radical experience that pushes the limit of what is possible in cinema and thus enriches our choices to enjoy film. Furthermore, as Dr David Thorburn would say, there is something about the photomechanical process vs the digital world. He puts it down to time. The time needed for the chemistry to work as the metronome controlling the rhythm, time and harmony of the entire process of making a film.

This screening in Edinburgh showcases a selection of contemporary experimental films from Ibero-America, each a bold exploration of doubt, identity, and transformation. In a world driven by productivity, these films draw us into a poetic realm, encouraging reflection and opening a space to celebrate diversity. Through audiovisual experimentation, they invite us to face the changes in our communities and foster the essential dialogues that keep our human journey alive.

SHORT FILMS SELECTION

METAMORPHOSIS CHANTINGS OR THAT TIME WHEN I INCARNATED AS PORPOISE
Original title: Cantos da Metamorfose Ou Aquela Vez Em Que Eu Encarnei Como Boto
Directed by: Ainá Xisto
Year: 2024
Country: Portugal
Duration: 11 min

Driven by the will to give life, it is inevitable to face the spiral of time. Interior landscapes and authentic conversations to re-establish the flow of metamorphosis: leaping from one being to another as new ways of saying I.

THE LOST MEMORIES OF TREES
Original title: Las memorias perdidas de los árboles
Directed by: Antonio La Camera
Year: 2023
Country: Perú, Italy, Spain
Duration: 20 min

In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, two trees awaken in the night and set out on a spiritual journey, uncovering a past life in which they were two little brothers.

COLDNESS
Original Title: Frialdad
Directed by: Andrea Sanchez
Year: 2024
Country: Andorra, Spain
Duration: 14 min

The screams and anguish of a cursed B-horror movie, shot in the late 1980s and never seen until now, creep through the streets of Andorra, creating a rift between the present and the past of cinema in the country. When the avenues are empty and the commercial fervor wanes, the question remains: can a country that is also a huge holiday resort become the ideal setting for a horror story?

LAVADOIRO
Directed by: Ana Amado & Lois Patiño
Year: 2023
Country: Spain
Duration: 18 min

An ode to the old Galician wash houses where women used to gather to confide in each other and do laundry, this also serves as a tribute to that invisible and often unrewarded work done by the female population. A multidisciplinary reflection on tangible and intangible heritage in an angelic and melancholic space, of forests and seas, ecosystems that are complemented by these working women, with the music of this traveling choir.

MEMORIES FROM A DOG THAT COULD NOT PARADE
Original title: Recuerdo de un perro que no pudo desfilar
Directed by: Federico Borgia
Year: 2023
Country: Uruguay
Duration: 7 min

From the control desk, an amplified voice announces the judgments have already begun. A refined dog that seems made of foam awaits, bound and in vain, his turn to model. An immersive cinematic composition that could be its memory.

GOODBYE FOR NOW
Original title: Adiós por ahora
Directed by: Valentín Caso Rosendi
Year: 2024
Country: Argentina
Duration: 7 min

A woman hides her face against a wall. Fireworks cover the night sky. A voice speaks to a friend who is not there.

TIME TO CHANGE
Directed by: Pocas Pascoal
Year:
Country: Portugal, Angola
Duration: 6 min

Angolan director and screenwriter Pocas Pascoal reminds us that it’s time for a change, proposing through this film a look at colonialism, capitalism and their impact on global biodiversity.

HIDDEN
Original title: Oculto
Directed by: Sebastian Wiedemann
Year: 2021–2023
Country: Colombia, Perú
Duration: 8 min

The celestial bodies enunciate something in the midst of their mystery. The moon turns red, the planet weeps, the fall is deeper than we could imagine. Hidden, something lurks. In the middle, a requiem or perhaps an elegy. The uncertain as a path that leads us to a catastrophe that we do not know if it is past, present or future. But which is undoubtedly a deep memory of a dark secret. The broken whispers of a wounded jungle.