Dominican filmmaker Johanné Gómez Terrero will participate with the film “Sugar Island” in the ‘Jornadas de los Autores’, a parallel and independent event of the Venice Film Festival in which the Dominican Republic will take part for the first time, organizers informed Friday at a press conference.
“Sugar Island”, co-produced with the Spanish production company ‘Tinglado Film’, analyzes through the unwanted pregnancy of a 13-year-old teenager the colonial roots of the sugar industry and the lasting role of spirituality in anti-colonial liberation movements.
The protagonist, Makenya, lives in a village in the middle of a sugarcane plantation. An unwanted pregnancy forces her to face adulthood earlier than expected, while her mother is influenced by the spiritual tradition of the so-called ‘Mysteries’ and her grandfather fights for social rights, the organization told about the film’s plot.
Some of the themes presented in the films of the contest are “the attention to the lives of people moving forward on a hypothetical subtle and fragile thread that runs through the tumult of the world”, “the firm tenacity of daily existence while everything around implodes” or “the courage of not giving up one’s own life as one wants to take it”, added the organization.
This will be the 21st edition of the Authors’ Day, organized by associations of Italian directors and authors, which will be held between August 28 and September 7, parallel to the Venice Film Festival. A total of 10 films will be in competition.
Beyond “Sugar Island”, these films are: “Alpha” by Dutchman Jan-Willem van Ewijk, ‘Antikvariati (the antique)’ by Georgian Rusudan Glurjidze, ‘Boomerang’ by Iranian Shahab Fotouhi, ‘Manas’ by Brazilian Marianna Brennand, ‘Sanatorium under the sign of the hourglass’ by American twins Stephen and Timothy Quay, and ‘Selon joy (the book of joy)’ by French Camille Lugan.
Also competing will be “Super happy forever” by Japan’s Igarashi Kohei, “Taxi monamour” by Italy’s Ciro De Caro and “To kill a mongolian horse” by Mongolian Xiaoxuan Jiang.
Source:Noticiassin.com
