Hola Dannie aqui,
Today with a report from AICN's newest team member Hugo Marenco from the beautiful country of Costa Rica! Today Hugo reported on the opening night of the shnit international short film festival. Read on to hear about Hugo's experience!
Well, the shnit launch happened.
It was a pleasant Tuesday night in downtown San Jose, near the culinary district of Barrio Escalante where a good selection can be found – Lebanese, Mediterranean, and fusion cuisine. The diners were most definitely having a good time over there. Down at the Jardin de Lolita, other plans were in store…
I arrived fashionably late. We got a ticket for a free beer. Just one. I’ll just have to make do with what I got, I thought to myself… good thing I poached mine early; they were out of beer in no time!
A nice introduction was given by Ecaterina (pretty sure that was her name), and then the director of shnit CR (Costa Rica), Mr. Josué Fischel proceeded to give us a very standard introduction about the festival. I managed to speak to him afterward and he told me he hopes the attendance this year-round increases compared to last. He also wants to give more prominence to the short film format. It’s been 8 years since shnit has been celebrated in Costa Rica, and he wants it to keep being what it has been since its inception: a big party that supports international as well as national talent.
After that, we got to see a nice video with a deep, disturbing voice proclaiming the initiation of the festival, as well as creating expectancy for the festival. It was a very well made video, exhibiting the greatness of the shorts we will get to see. I can attest to the hype – last year had a bit of everything; great films, not so great, strange, funny, heartwarming… even children’s short animations. There’s something for everyone in this event.
With the proper introductions and the accreditation handouts out of the way, I managed to speak with a couple more interesting people:
Daniel Solano, the composer of the film “Fragmentos del Rey Desmembrado”, directed by Alex Miñarro, is a 20min, genre-defying film that will be projected on the screens of Cine Magaly on October 20th. It is a Dedo en el Dojo/Bande apart film school production, set in Barcelona, Spain. Daniel told me more about the music of the film: it includes the participation of Tupac Ulloa, a Costa Rican flutist. The music was produced thanks to the collaboration between the ICAT and the UNA (National University of Costa Rica).
Finally, I was able to speak to Alexandra Latishev – one of the filmmakers on jury duty at the festival. She will have the difficult task of selecting a winning film, along with the other jury members Marcelo Quesada and Catalina Murillo. She is happy to be a part of the jury team this year. She is very interested in national talent so that she can, as she put it, stay “up to date” with the rising talent in CR. She also told me she has two projects coming up – one as a director of a Mexican production, and another that involves her own script.
And that wraps up the launch event coverage. The festival will commence on Oct 17, with a special screening of sorts on the 10th. More news on that as it develops. For now, don’t forget to visit the shnit website and get your tickets ASAP.
Hugo Marenco
