Raise awareness around the connection of human beings with nature and the consequent impact of our actions on the environment. That is the main objective of festival Ecozine, which has been bringing films related to sustainable development to the general public for 14 years and this year will celebrate a hybrid edition, combining screenings in theaters of Zaragoza (Aragon) and virtual premieres of nearly 100 titles from this Wednesday, May 19 to June 5. A very good opportunity to organize a different cultural plan and committed to the health of the planet.
“Ecozine is back, back with more energy and more strength; come back with an even more sustainable attitude to promote a timely change in a time of pandemic “, says the director of the contest, Pedro Piñeiro, which also explains that for the first time they have incorporated a Code of Ethics in the festival, because they seek reduce your carbon footprint “And we want to be clear about how to standardize events so that they are truly sustainable.”
This advance, the results of which will be seen above all in future editions, gives a more “green” color if possible to a festival that has established itself as a reference in southern Europe Its purpose is to disseminate, exhibit and reward fiction films, animation and documentaries on environmental issues, as well as promoting parallel activities related to audiovisuals and the environment. This year, under the co-organization of the Ecozine Cultural Association and the Zaragoza City Council, will award five prizes in its competitive section in the categories of international and national documentary feature film, documentary short film, fiction short film and animation short film.
Total, 54 productions from 24 countries compete, of a total of 850 films received, of which 37% have been directed or co-directed by women. The jury’s prizes will be announced on June 3, at a delivery gala in which, as in other editions, the Award for commitment to the environment, which bears the name of the Honduran activist Berta Cáceres Flores and with which we want to recognize people, institutions and organizations that work in the defense of it.
Although most of the candidate films can only be seen on the big screen in Zaragoza, some screenings will also be open to the virtual audience through online screenings, which will be announced on the Ecozine Facebook page and on the Twitter account @ecozineFilmFest con el hashtag #UnPlanetadeZine, as well as on the official website of the Festival. In order to receive the viewing link, it will be necessary, of course, to hurry, since virtual capacity will also be limited a few hundred people.
Water, central element
Beyond the official section, the contest has a series of parallel sections dealing with specific aspects of sustainable development or they seek to reward the first steps of novice filmmakers. One of the most important is “Cinema and water“, A section rooted in the festival since its inception that addresses issues related to the liquid element, essential for life on the planet and on which this year Ecozine offers a total of five titles from Peru, the United States and Spain.
The first of these audiovisual pieces is The Guadiamar miracle, a Spanish short film directed by Ricardo Gamaza Fernández that follows a group of cyclists while touring the Guadiamar river, which 20 years earlier had been the victim of the largest mining spill in Europe. At present, this Andalusian river has fully recovered and has become an ecological corridor that connects Doñana and Sierra Morena, offering an environmental corridor for the transit of species and for activities that respect nature. A miracle unthinkable two decades ago, when the area was covered in toxic mud.
Another short film that the festival will screen is Water is life, an animated mini-story Directed by Sam Vinal that takes us to the shores of Louisiana where powerful indigenous women are ready to fight and stop the corporate black snake and preserve their lifestyle. And the medium-length film will also be screened for the first time at Ecozine The voices of the water, a documentary produced by Ecologists in Action and directed by Iván Castell with which you want to make visible the territorial imbalance generated by the old model of water management, which has been the cause of a deep social injustice that is still far from being reversed. In this sense, the voices heard in this documentary call for a new management and governance model that makes a little more possible the harmony between the territory and the people.
There will also be space for the Peruvian short documentary The river of the Kukamas, what Follow some Amazonian Indians who believe they are born from the spirit of the river and therefore have a very special connection with water. Filmed at the end of the rainy season, the footage allows us to learn about the challenges the Kukama people face today as we learn about other ancient ways of living with the liquid element. Finally, Ecozine will also screen the short A deep gash, whose director, Luis Centurión, seeks to convey a clear and forceful message: the Tagus River has been ill for years, and it is losing its memory.
Cities and youth
In addition to the official section and the one dedicated to water, this year Ecozine has also wanted to focus on cities since, after a year of pandemic, a debate has arisen again around the planning of cities and the imbalances that occur in the territory.
The section is made up of a cinematographic program by Leandro Martínez, which includes great titles that tell us about cities as protagonists, as well as various conferences under the title “City and Ecology. (Re) connect territories and inhabitants, co-organized with the Institut Français de Zaragoza and TIFE.
On the other hand, in the section “Youth Film Festival” s11 short films made by young filmmakers will be presented and in the section “Ecozine Rural” a series of audiovisual pieces will be screened related to how we relate to the territory: in what environment we move, how our body reacts, how we act with the environment in which we live and in what way we relate with the earth. Specific, problems will be addressed ranging from the implementation in rural areas of macro-wind farms and solar orchards to the abandonment of the vegas, the mountains and their consequences.
In addition to the six spaces in which the contest will be held in Zaragoza and the virtual projection of certain titles, there will be screenings and activities in secondary venues such as Pamplona, in L’Eliana (Valencia), in the city of Valencia itself and in Gotor, in the Aranda region (Zaragoza).
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