In 2021, DOBRA – International Experimental Film Festival meets its 7th consecutive edition reassuring its commitment with the innovative force of experimental film and the great potential of collaboration of its community. From 6th to 30th September, DOBRA will sail through Brazilian and International production moving film’s thinking, opening it up to the creation of new worlds and proposing aesthetically transforming points of view.
As in the previous editions, the Open Call Screenings are the flagship of DOBRA. This year there will be 8 thematic screenings, that total 42 selected films from more than 1000 submissions received in the Open Call, opened last May. The festival’s curatorship, formed by Cristiana Miranda, Lucas Murari and Luiz Garcia, identified themes that stood out in the artists’ works, such as political issues, the search for representation in urban-space and in body-space, the creation of a poetics that responds to the artists’ necessity to maintain themselves active over the long pandemic period and to an archaeology of Latin America.
The Open Call Screenings trace a large outlook to the worldwide contemporary experimental film production, having Latin America as its great highlight. In addition to films from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico and Uruguay, the festival’s screenings also involve representatives from Germany, Belgium, Canada, Spain, USA, Finland, France, India, Italy, Lithuania, the UK and Taiwan. Brazilian production stands out with a pretty expressive representation: 23 selected films.
Besides the open call screenings, the 2021 full screening of DOBRA will count with the invited screening “rituals of reclamation”, proposed by North American curator Steve Polta, Artistic Director of San Francisco Cinematheque, director and curator of CROSSROADS, the San Francisco Cinematheque’s annual experimental film festival together with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The screening proposed by Polta will reinforce the international dialogue that surrounds experimental film promoted by DOBRA and will contribute to the expansion of the network of affections and collaboration of the international community of experimental film within the Brazilian context.
During the festival there will also be livestreaming talks broadcasted by MAM-Rio’s YouTube channel. The first one will be the opening of the festival with the curators, on September 9th. On September 16th, will be presented a chat about the film celluloid digitization with the team from the Argentine laboratory Leche Lab. On September 22nd will take place the pre-release of the book Bcubico, a publication about the cultural center of the same name dedicated to the exhibition of experimental films, video arts, and performances, which existed in Recife between 2011 and 2016. And to close the live program, on September 24th there will be a chat with the invited curator Steve Polta.
DOBRAS’ 7th edition is co-produced by the Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art (MAM-Rio). All selected films to the 9 screenings will be available worldwide on the festival’s website during the whole period, from 6th to 30th September, with free access and no registration required. ____ DOBRA 2021 | sept 6 – 30 The festival is free and it is happening on the website: festivaldobra.com.br. Information: [email protected]
