LAB partners Ojos Ilegales, in Venezuela, sent us news of the Miradas Diversas film festival in Caracas.
The films can be viewed for free by going to the Gran Cine – Películas de Impacto website, choosing the Miradas Diversas link, clicking on the film you choose and then completing the payment process (but you won’t be charged anything. Films are free to view for 48 hours).
The 3rd edition of Miradas Diversas – International Human Rights Film Festival, to be held between December 2 and 12, 2021, will be competitive for the first time, with awards for Best Feature Film and Best Short Film.
A total of 64 titles, divided between 23 feature films and 41 short films, from 19 countries, will compete in the third edition of Miradas Diversas – International Human Rights Film Festival 2021, organized by the Gran Cine Circuit, with the support of Movies That Matter, Provea, the embassies of France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and funding from the European Union.
The festival will take place between December 2 and 12 in Caracas and several cities in the interior of the country, with in-person and virtual screenings through the platform www.grancinepi.net, as well as 11 film forums, a special program at the Center for Political Studies of the UCAB and a tribute, in alliance with the Margot Benacerraf Foundation, to the French-Greek master Costa-Gavras, winner of the Oscar, the Bafta and the Golden Palm at Cannes, for his film Missing, among other awards for his vast filmography, whose scripts constantly address the theme of Human Rights.
Films from Angola, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Spain, United States, France, Guatemala, Iran, Mexico, Paraguay, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela will compete for consideration in the Best Feature Film and Best Short Film categories. Migration, the Rights of Women, the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities, in addition to the Right of Access to Information, Freedom of Expression, Housing and Culture, are addressed in these productions through a documentary or fictional approach, all produced in the period 2018 – 2021.
The good news is that Miradas Diversas was accepted into the Human Rights Film Network (HRFN), an organization created in 2004 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which brings together 45 Human Rights film festivals in the world, an unprecedented endorsement for a festival created in Venezuela. HRFN aims to foster an international environment conducive to the screening and promotion of Human Rights films. On the website www.humanrightsfilmnetwork.org
Venezuelan films
Venezuela is represented by the feature films Especial by Ignacio Márquez, Voy por ti by Carmen La Roche, Yo imposible by Patricia Ortega and Dos otoños en París, by Gibelys Coronado; and the documentaries Érase una vez en Venezuela, Congo Mirador by Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, La causa by Andrés Figueredo and Mi país afuera by Andrea Carolina López. Also competing are the national short films ¿Comegente? a collective production of the Plano Creativo Foundation, El rebaño de los medios by Jesús Manuel Villaverde, La libertad no tiene fronteras by Francisco Elías Prada and Ángela Rodríguez Torres, Trámite de admisión by Tullio Cavalli and the short films produced by Fábrica de Cine, the social program of the Gran Cine Circuit.
Competition: Jury and awards
This third edition of Miradas Diversas will be competitive for the first time and will have cash and honorary prizes. The French Embassy is sponsoring the cash prize for Best Feature Film, named after the Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras, while the Provea organization is sponsoring the award for Best Short Film in honor of the Venezuelan screenwriter and lawyer David Suarez, who was an activist in the defense of human rights.
As for the jury, the Chilean-Venezuelan filmmaker Pablo de la Barra, producer and screenwriter Claudia Nazoa and the director of the community area of the Sundance Organization Abiram Brizuela will be in charge of selecting the winning films for the feature films; while those in charge of evaluating the short films will be the prominent journalist and writer Milagros Socorro, the human rights activist and general coordinator of Provea Rafael Uzcátegui and the screenwriter, producer and director Belén Orsini.
