Continued from part 1.

Creating a "hybrid" form

It is important to state that it was not the aim of Pablo’s Winter to create controversy about the dividing line between documentary and fiction. Rather, the objective was to ignore that line altogether and explore freely aspects of both approaches. My only concern was an ethical one. My standpoint is close to the documentary ethics in the sense that the characters and the world presented in the film should be as close as possible a representation of the characters and the world observed in reality. Beyond that ethical concern, I did not bother too much about making a documentary or a fiction film. I rather saw myself as if I were a sculptor modelling the outside reality.  However, the film had to be defined at some point.

We're very happy to announce that Pablo's Winter has been selected to participate in the 25th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), where it will compete for the Best Student Documentary Award. The IDFA programme consists of 317 titles (selected from more than 3,300 submissions), of which 97 documentaries will have their world premiere at the festival. 

Professor Robin MacPherson, director of Screen Academy Scotland where the film was produced, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to see Chico’s film competing for documentary honours in both Amsterdam and Leipzig. It is especially gratifying that three more of our graduates played key roles in its realisation, demonstrating how our focus on creative collaboration is really paying off.”

Sonja Henrici from Scottish Documentary Institute said: "In a time where it's easy to pick up a camcorder, Pablo's Winter shows us the value of true cinematography and a director's vision. We're extremely proud to present Pablo's Winter to the international film community."

IDFA will take part in Amsterdam from 14 to 25 November, and Chico Pereira, along with other members of the team, will attend the screenings.

Today, we have the pleasure to announce that Pablo's Winter will have its world premiere at the DOK Leipzig festival later this month. Chico Pereira's first feature-lenghth work will compete in the Young Cinema Competition. 

According to the festival's press release, 84 documentaries and 114 short animated films will make up the official programme of this year‘s DOK Leipzig. Among the documentaries are 27 world premieres and 14 international premieres, a record number for the film festival. The 198 selected films were chosen from 2,847 entries submitted from 113 countries. The number of countries also marks a new high. 

Festival director Claas Danielsen praised the depth and scope of the festival’s official programme: “This year’s films paint a very exciting and varied picture of a world in transition. In that way, the festival serves as a barometer of fundamental political, social and cultural change.”

I wanted to find a more organic method of developing a film,
to experiment with an hybrid form
and to have a film with as little story as I could
and as much depth as possible.

My motivation to make a film never comes from the need to tell a story or to document an aspect of the world. The real force that drives my filmmaking is the desire of developing projects that reflect on film language or film form and that experiment with creative techniques. Story is always the last element to come into place and it is the most likely to change at any point of the creative process. For Pablo’s Winter the idea was to develop a film in my hometown that would feature my neighbours and would combine documentary and fiction film elements and techniques.