A live shoot kicks off the Tarifa African Film Festival

Rate welcomes from this Friday, May 27, and until June 5 the nineteenth edition of Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival (FCAT), a southern European cross-border competition on cinemas from Africa and its diasporas.

The presentation of Giants, Maimouna Guerresi exhibition (author of the poster), has marked the prelude to the inauguration. A spectacular display on the side facade of the Alameda Theater that it has had the presence of Francisco Ruiz Giráldez, mayor of Tarifa; Manuel Cisneros, director of the FCAT and Irene Miranda (Absolute Group). With the title of giants The Italian-Senegalese artist will fill this edition with all the strength and beauty of Africa, with cultural diversity and human spirituality that their figures represent.



The opening gala, directed by Maria Orellana and presented by the actor from Tarifa John Fletahas recreated a live shoot with four actors who have starred in the roles of stewardship, makeup, props, cleaning and applause request.

The feminine energy of the poster for this edition, alluding to the cultural and spiritual miscegenation between the two cultures, has come to life thanks to the performance of Clara Otero. In a first pass out of the poster woman in red; in a second pass, the threads have been transformed into a great skein that the dancer has been going through. Clara Otero, a dancer from Cádiz, has studied at the dance conservatories of Seville and Cádiz and has performed at festivals such as Cádiz en Danza and Mes de Danza de Sevilla.

The gala was attended by filmmakers, actors and actresses such as Salva Reina, Alexis Morante, Kirá Miró or Erika Etangsale.

Manuel Cisneros, director of the festival, stressed in her speech the relevance of Salto del Eje, one of the great projects linked to the FCAT in this edition: program of cinematographic creation in disadvantaged environments promoted by the High Commissioner against Child Poverty and the Screen Federation; organized by the African Film Festival of Tarifa, Márgenes y Vínculos Foundation and Alternativas Coordinator; sponsored by the Red Eléctrica Group and in collaboration with the Cádiz Provincial Council and the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

The project has started with a pilot in the framework of the FCAT, with adolescents from the neighborhoods of El Saladillo, in Algeciras, and mayorga bridge, in San Roque, which will present two short films and a making of. “This program proposes a change of perspective on the most immediate environments in which adolescents livein which they decide what and how to tell it, a metaphorical “leap of axis” that ultimately intends to challenge a wide audience”, declared Mane Cisneros.

The French-Senegalese actress, producer and director Aïssa Maiga signature Marcher sur l’eau (Walking on water), the film that opened the XIX FCAT. In Walking in the water, Aïssa Maïga shows the reality of Tatiste, a town in the north of Niger that lives involved in a serious problem of fighting for water in the context of global warming.

Aïsa Maïga immersed herself in this nomadic population of Niger to learn about their daily lives in relation to water, the factor that determines and moves the course of their days. The director not only had to tell these stories but gain the trust of a foreign people — yet at the same time familiar — to her. Many people have never seen a camera (or even a film); and many children tire quickly from malnutrition. In the midst of this complicated context, Aïsa Maïga he had to learn to narrate this reality cinematographically.

The documentary combines the documentary story with parts of fiction. In the words of its director: “The idea was to film reality and, at the same time, provoke this reality by inducing situations. My approach remains deeply documentary, even though I recomposed certain scenes”, he argues. “You learn to look at people, to observe verbal and body language, to listen to silences. And you also learn to adapt.”

A live shoot kicks off the Tarifa African Film Festival