DocsBarcelona+Medellin
… which (Medellin) is a city in Colombia that October 15-20 will have its first documentary festival, built on the DocsBarcelona model with film screenings and industry activities, all thought out by Joan Gonzalez from Parallel40 in the Catalan capital, the name of a person who has appeared again and again in filmkommentaren. He has put this new festival together together with his brilliant staff, including Angels Vilars who runs the Parallel40 office in Colombia.
I have tried to ask Gonzalez, a friend and colleague since the 1990’es, why a pipe-smoking dog is on the poster of the festival, no answer, but from a former pipe smoker, dog walker and docs addicted person… no objections.
On the programme of the festival (Spanish language films primarily) are “Pura Vida” by Pablo Iraburu, the strong film about Inaki, the mountain climber and the international solidarity that grew in order to try get him down from high up – and Chico Pereira’s warm “Pablo’s Winter” – and Fredrik Gertten’s documentary blockbuster “Big Boys Gone Bananas!”. Here is the text from the press release about the festival:
DocsBarcelona has gone a step further in its history: after a year’s work, we proudly inform you that at the end of October we will celebrate the first edition of DocsBarcelona+Medellín, the experience of the festival you already know, now in Colombia!
Stories from Zimbabwe, India, Chile, Spain, Colombia and Uruguay will turn Medellin during 6 days into the heart of documentary. The program will present 15 films out of a selection of documentaries mostly screened at DocsBarcelona in previous editions, all of them with a large international career. The documentary Serrat & Sabina: Two for the road (El símbolo y el cuate), directed by journalist and correspondent Francesc Relea about the acclaimed Spanish singer-songwriters Joaquín Sabina and Joan Manel Serrat, will open the festival, being the American premiere. The festival program will be completed with an agenda of industry activities such as master classes with guest directors, rou gh cut sessions with documentary professionals and an Executive Production Workshop-Seminar by Joan Gonzàlez, director of the production company Parallel40 and of DocsBarcelona and its edition in Medellin. DocsBarcelona+Medellin will take place at Parque Explora, at the Cultural Center of the Arts Faculty of the Antioquia University, at the Eafit University and in the Lido Theatre.
