The city of Tarifa (Cádiz) hosts between May 27 and June 5, 2022 the 19th edition of the African Film Festival of Tarifa-Tangier FCAT, a cross-border festival in southern Europe about the cinemas of Africa and its diasporas.
The presentation of Giants, an exhibition by Maïmouna Guerresi, marked “the prelude to the opening”. “A spectacular show on the side facade” of the Alameda Theater that has had the presence of Francisco Ruiz Giráldez, mayor of Tarifa, and Mane Cisneros, director of the FCAT and Irene Miranda (Grupo Absolute), according to the festival in a statement .
Entitled ‘Gigantes’, produced and sponsored by Grupo Absolute, in addition to being sponsored by Metrovacesa, the Italo-Senegalese artist “will fill this edition with all the African strength and beauty, cultural diversity and human spirituality that their figures represent.
The opening gala, directed by María Orellana and presented by the actor from Tarifa, Juan Fleta, has recreated a live shoot with four actors who have starred in the roles of stage manager, make-up, props, cleaning and requesting applause.
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 Clara Otero’s performance.
In a first pass, the woman in red has “exited the poster”; in a second pass, “the threads have been transformed into a large skein that the dancer has been traversing”. 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.
Mane Cisneros, director of the festival, has emphasized in her speech the relevance of Salto del Eje, one of the great projects linked to the FCAT in this edition.
Film creation program 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 begun with a pilot within the framework of the FCAT, with adolescents from the neighborhoods of El Saladillo, in Algeciras, and Puente Mayorga, in San Roque, who will present two short films and a making of at the closing gala.
«This program proposes a change of perspective on the most immediate environments in which adolescents live, in 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 Franco-Senegalese actress, producer and director Aïssa Maïga signs Marcher sur l’eau (Walking on Water) is the film that opened the 19th 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 to gain the trust of a people alien to her.
“Many people have never seen a camera (or even a film); and many children tire quickly from malnutrition. In the middle of this complicated context, Aïsa Maïga had to learn to tell this reality cinematographically”, the festival has reported.
The documentary combines the 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, although I recomposed certain scenes », she argues.
«You learn to look at people, to observe verbal and body language, to listen to silences. And you also learn to adapt. he has finished.