The best and most relevant Spanish, Portuguese and Latin-America documentaries come to the fore this April. In-person events will take place in Edinburgh and Glasgow between 6 and 10 April. The festival then moves online from 11 – 17 April with films available to watch throughout the UK.
This year’s edition is dedicated to territory, belonging and migration – themes close to the heart of the IberoDocs team. The exciting programme explores these topics, and audiences are invited to participate in the Q&A sessions with the filmmakers after the screenings. This year’s events include an animation workshop, movie gatherings and of course a party!
The Festival opens on Wednesday 6 April at Edinburgh Filmhouse with the Scottish Premiere of the Gaudí award-winning The Odd-Job Men. By Neus Ballús – The Plague (2013) and Staff Only (2019) – it’s part of the “Beyond Docs” selection, showcasing films that bend the line between fiction and documentary. It’s a comedy which follows a young Moroccan plumber who has to deal with equally eccentric colleagues and customers to get through his probationary week in a new job.
Also part of “Beyond Docs” is Lucia Murat’s Ana. Untitled which explores letters exchanged between Latin-American visual female artists in the 70s and 80s. Screening as a UK Premiere at Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday 10 April. Then, there’s two films by Andalusian director Alejandro Salgado, exploring migration to European shores. The UK Premiere of Barzakh will be screening in both Edinburgh and Glasgow and will be accompanied by a Q&A with the director. Bolingo will be screening solely online.
If you like your films on the experimental side there’s Rocío Huertas’ La Alameda 2018, exploring the sense of community and how we relate to our city. After the screenings at both the Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh and the Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts, Rocío will be taking part in a live Q&A.
IberoDocs are also delighted to reveal that Rocío will be leading an immersive free animation workshop prior to her film screening at Edinburgh’s Banshee Labyrinth on Friday 8 April. The Seville-based filmmaker and animator will reveal the elaborate work process that has shaped her feature film La Alameda 2018 over the years. Through discarded material of the film, experiences and influences, such as La Alameda by J.S. Bollain, Huertas will compose the story of the same.
Fans of short films won’t be disappointed either. Spanish Edinburgh-based filmmakers Inma de Reyes and Nelisa Alcalde have joined the IberoDocs 2022 programming team to curate a series of shorts around their work Isabel’s Independence which sees its International Premiere during the Festival. Pertinent to current world affairs, it explores the obstacles Isabel faces when moving to Edinburgh to start a new life. The short film programme also comprises several films nominated at the 2022 Goya Awards including the UK Premiere of Nacho Fernández’s Extra. Also screening in the line-up of short films is Manuel Inacker’s La Bestia – Train of The Unknowns, which won a string of awards at leading festivals including the 2019 Barcelona Short Film Festival.
A new concept for this year’s programme are a series of free, informal, Movie Gatherings. These will take place throughout the period of the festival, in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Run by students from cinema and anthropology, they’ll be an opportunity to gather and discuss the films, as well as the themes of the 2022 programme.
In order to make the festival as accessible as possible, once again a selection of the films will be made available online to audiences throughout the UK. The films will be available to watch from Monday 11 to Sunday 17 April on the Eventive platform. The Odd-Job Men and No somos nada will not be available online. Bolingo will only be available to watch online.
The organisers of IberoDocs are once again committed to ensuring that all elements of the festival are as accessible as possible. Several of the films which have Q&As will have BSL interpretation available, as well as several with English closed captions. All films (both in-person and online) will have English language subtitles. Spanish and English Language interpretation is kindly provided on a volunteer basis by students from the Languages and Intercultural Studies (LINCS) department at Heriot-Watt University.
Funders and sponsors – among them Creative Scotland, Film Hub Scotland, Accion Cultural Española, Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, Instituto Cervantes – Mánchester y Leeds, Scottish Documentary Institute as well as Taxidi, Pacari Chocolates and Indaba Deli – have committed their support to this year’s edition despite difficult circumstances and the IberoDocs team are delighted to have them on board. The Skinny will once again be joining us as the official media partner.
Mar Felices, festival director commented “Overjoyed to finally return to the theatres and the big screen. On top of that, we are doing so in the company of amazing artists – both emerging and well established- for whom I feel the deepest admiration. I can’t wait to start again meaningful conversations about issues that as a migrant myself I frequently evaluate.”
