Punto de Vista announces its full programme

Notes on Bob and Nancy, Marcia Hafif

The 13th edition of Punto de Vista has completed its programme, with the Festival taking part from 11 to 16 March 2019 in Pamplona. It is divided into seven major sections: the Official Selection, which includes the films selected from more than 1,160 sent from all over the world; Retrospectives, which will focus on the key avant-garde figures Marcia Hafif and Jonathan Schwartz; DOKBIZIA, an encounter that brings together artists from different disciplines to exchange their ways of relating to reality; the Punto de Vista Labs, a space for exchanges of knowledge and collective creation; the Focos Contemporáneos, monographic sessions in which Punto de Vista focuses its gaze on some of the most interesting filmmakers on the international scene; the Sesiones Especiales, with programmes such as X Films, the encounter of Basque-Navarrese filmmakers Paisaia or a cycle of films in the Planetarium, and finally the Programa Educativo, which grows to continue opening the Festival up to new and young audiences. Tickets for screenings and events that will take place during the Festival can be bought online or in the ticket office of Baluarte, the main venue of Punto de Vista.

Second retrospective: Marcia Hafif

The retrospective on Marcia Hafif (1929-2018), who was born in Pomona, California, will examine the work of an internationally recognised plastic artist as one of the main exponents of the monochromatic painting of her era. The relationship between the visual and linguistic dimensions of Hafif's work is one of divergence. Sometimes her voice refers directly to the plot and explains the moving image, while at other times the narrative moves away from the action or weaves landscapes in the screenplay that have no relation to what is happening on the screen. Editing is the defining technique in Hafif's films; in her early work she was a silent observer, recording choreographies of everyday life. In contrast, in the 1970s, film becomes a structuralist device that replaces conventional narrative. The combination of the moving image and text allows her to create a subjective perspective on the world that reflects her vision of themes such as feminism (Notes on Bob and Nancy) or spirituality (India Time). Her works Clouds will also be shown, and two versions of her Letters to J-C.

A space for local artists

Tuesday 12th March is the day specially dedicated to work produced by local artists. As well as a closed-doors encounter with Basque and Navarrese filmmakers and programmers, the public will be able to see their recent work in the session titled PAISAIA. In this edition, the thematic axis that links the different films shown is a reflection on the passing of time and its effects, seen from very different perspectives and formal approaches: returning to past events; analysing the changes that modifications to the landscape bring about; casting metaphoric light on how things are going nowadays, or examining generational differences in the way of understanding affective relationships in different eras. Ikusleak, by Jesús María Palacios; 592 metroz goiti, by Maddi Barber; Ancora Lucciole, by Maria Elorza, and Amor Siempre, by Maider Fernández Iriarte.

Special sessions: the latest films by John Price and Robert Beavers

John Price will present his latest films, most of them not seen to date. This Canadian independent filmmaker, who will be with us in the Festival, started making experimental documentaries, dance films and diary films in 1986. His love of analog photography led him quite naturally to extensive alchemical experimentation with different emulsions of film and camera formats. He has received support from the National Film Board and the Arts Council of Canada, the Arts Council of Ontario and The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. His work has been exhibited in international festivals and galleries. He will show his works Detroit 2010-2016, Dispersal area, Rob, Seven and Naissance des étoiles #2.

The programme by Robert Beavers (Massachusetts, 1949) covers the recent work of the American experimental filmmaker. He left Deerfield Academy in 1965 before graduating and moved to New York to make films. He lived in New York until 1967, when he and his partner, Gregory Markopoulos, left the USA for Europe. In recent years several institutions have dedicated retrospectives to him: The Tate Modern (London), Whitney Museum (New York), Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley) and the Filmmuseum (Vienna), among many others. He will present Pitcher of colored light, Among the Eucalyptuses, Listening to the space in my room, The Suppliant, and Der Klang, die welt…

Punto de Vista Labs: Luke Fowler and Museum of Clouds

As part of Punto de Vista Labs, a section dedicated to sharing knowledge and collective creation, Luke Fowler -an artist, filmmaker and musician who lives in Glasgow- will give a master class in which he will cover the two areas that have focused his work as a filmmaker: sound and archive footage. He will also show Enceindre in the Closing Session. Enceindre is a film and sound study of two fortified cities in the 16th century: Berwick in north-east England and Pamplona, in Navarre. The film deals with the psychological resonances of what it means to live in a city defined by its historical complex of walls and defensive bastions.

The Punto de Vista Labs are showcasing the Museum of Clouds project, begun in October 2018 in the Tate Modern in London. It was conceived as a project in progress, porous and flexible, an itinerant imaginary space that could help us to think about the landscape that a certain kind of cinema has drawn in recent years. This time, Museum of Clouds travels to Punto de Vista to focus on the work and curatorial practice of the people who give form to that landscape, making films that emerge from programming. This version of the project involves a number of meetings between curators and public presentations to share and reflect together on questions about the different ways of working of art and film institutions and festivals, on how we construct our audiences and how we guide them through our programming, how a community is strengthened around a programme and also looking at creative, conceptual and semantic issues when approaching a cycle. On this occasion we are lucky to have four great professionals in this area with us: Dennis Lim, director of programming at the Film Society of the Lincoln Center in New York; Eva Sangiorgi, director of the Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival); Edwin Carels, programmer of the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and Mark Peranson. Museum of Clouds is curated by Garbiñe Ortega and Andrea Lissoni (Senior Curator, Tate Modern Film).

Official spot for Punto de Vista 2019

As for the official spot of Punto de Vista 2019, it will be one of a film festival without images. At the same, so many images never inhabited a screen together. This year the official spot of Punto de Vista is a combination of the work of various artists: the English sound artist Chris Watson together with the yoiker Ánde Somby and the filmmakers from the group Zazpi T’erdi. As voice is one of the motifs of this edition, we will visit the universe of the Sámi, an indigenous community in the north of Europe. Through voice and ancestral songs they express people, animals or elements of Nature -for example a river or a stone- in a shamanistic way, as well as the energy from under the ground.

Record number of accredited professionals and students

When the accreditation period ended we had registered a record number of film professionals from all over the world. More than 200 will visit us: filmmakers, professors and programmers, among them programmers from the most prestigious festivals such as the Berlinale, the Locarno Film Festival or the National Gallery of Art in Washington. A record number of students have signed up too: 140 students from film schools such as ESCAC (Barcelona), EQZE (Donostia-San Sebastian), ECAM (Madrid), Master LAV (Madrid) or the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona will be with us all week with their professors, who have cancelled classes to be here in Punto de Vista.

Punto de Vista 2019 partners

To support the programmed propositions, the work begun in previous years to find collaborators and partners continues in this 13th edition. Punto de Vista will consolidate and grow its list from previous editions with entities such as Pamplona City Council, Fundación Caja Navarra, Pamplona Planetarium, Filmoteca Navarra, the Contemporary Art Centre in Huarte, the Elías Querejeta Film School from San Sebastian or Radio 3. It will also add new travelling companions such as the Communication Faculty of the Universidad de Navarra, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Canadian Embassy in Spain or joint ventures with other film schools across Spain.

Furthermore, the presence of Dennis Lim and Andrea Lissoni in Punto de Vista has been possible thanks to support from Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) through its Programme for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) in the Visitors modality.