Community Cinema A new edition begins, in this case articulating with the municipalities of General Mosconi, Guachipas and Apolinario Saraviawho applied and were chosen to carry out the experience that takes place in five meetings scheduled between August and December of this year.
The first edition, held in 2023, had as participants the municipalities of Nazarene, Boat, The Shed, Chicoana and San Carlosand documentary pieces on various topics were generated: Mishkita, Fallen Branch, We are El Galpón, All the lives of Cristina Venom y Valle Kalchakiwere the titles, respectively, of the founding edition.
Rolando Pardo with residents of Guachipas.
The initiative, driven by the Culture Secretariat of the Province of Salta, through the Audiovisual Directorate and the Undersecretariat of Cultural Management, seeks to promote community access to information and communication technology tools, making visible experiences that reflect situations and local storieswhile promoting a space for intercultural dialogue between the different regions of the province.
The purpose of this call is to create a spaces for training and audiovisual production with organized groups of societywith the aim of producing a documentary short film which should reflect topics of interest and take into account the local context, making visible relevant experiences, situations and stories.
Meeting in General Mosconi.
The filmmakers who were winners and will play the role of tutor to carry out the audiovisual projects are: Deborah Valado, Laureano Emilio Vera and Rolando Ariel Pardowho will work in the municipalities of Apolinario Saravia, General Mosconi and Guachipas, respectively.
After his first visit to Guachipas, Rolando Pardo Guachipas reflected on this initiative: “The experience we had in this first session in Guachipas was very fruitful as ideas were collected from people with the participation of a very heterogeneous group: adults, middle-aged and young people from schoolswhere they expressed their ideas, experiences, memories and current problems,” he said.
“I think that’s the most interesting thing to take into account, especially from a community point of view, which is a community that is off the main routeyou have to enter the town and I think that makes it also a little far from the big cities, especially the city of Salta, and that has in its idiosyncrasy a great purity“That’s what I felt above all,” he said.
Rolando Pardo in Guachipas.
Also Dalmiro Zabala, Head of the audiovisual department who accompanies all projects in the territory, reflected on the first two territorial experiences: “We found ourselves with two very different experiences, because the realities are also very different.both in Mosconi and Guachipas, not only because of their geographic location but also because of their demographics. In Mosconi, the experience of sharing with the participants was much easier, and in Guachipas we found a group that had a hard time at first but then began to share their stories and problems.”
“We are leaving with a first meeting in the two very rich places to continue working since it was the initial kick-off to raise what we were going to tell,” Zabala remarked, and added: “Work began on story outlines, talk a little about cinema and show both the work in other locations, as well as short films from other places.”
Regarding the theme that emerged in each of the municipalities, Dalmiro commented: “In the case of Mosconi, the problems at the border, smuggling, and the entry of drugs into the community came up a lot.how drugs have advanced in communities that were once quieter and that today generate a lot of crime and a lot of concern in the group. They wanted to address that more than anything. They also talked a little about the history of Mosconi and Vespucio with YPFhow we went from a glorious past, so to speak, to a community where it is difficult for them to find work and it is also difficult for the children to study.”
“In that sense, I agree with Guachipas because they also address similar problems, although In Guachipas a topic arose which was solidarity, how they see themselves as Guachipeños as a united and supportive peoplemaintaining the essence of a smaller town,” Zabala highlighted.
The experienced filmmaker and tutor of the Guachipeño experience, Rolando Pardo, also highlighted: “The power I see in the experience is the purity of the people in the stories they tell.I think we need to promote them and evaluate which of them are the most feasible to film.”
The experience will begin in Apolinario Saravia during the first week of September, and the productions are expected to end in November, when the avant premiere will be screened in each location where the stories were created, followed by a general closing screening in the city of Salta.
