- ‘All the Women I Know’, by Xiana do Teixiero is a documentary about public space, gender and violence which revolves around three conversations
- ‘Matria’, by Álvaro Gago, an award-winning short film about broken communication channels and the false myth of Galician matriarchy
- The event will take place on Friday 5th April from 7pm at King’s College London – free entry
- At the end of the screening there will be a Q&A with Álvaro Gago who will be in London for the event
London, 1st of April 2019. The Galician Film Forum (GFF) will celebrate its tenth event with a double programme that includes the UK premiere of the documentary film All the Women I know, by Xiana do Texeiro, and the screening of the short film Matria, by Álvaro Gago. The event will take place on Friday 5th April at King’s College London [7pm, Edmond J Safra Theatre, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS]. Álvaro Gago will be in London for the event and available to answer question during the Q&A after the films have been screened.
As is usual at GFF events, both films will be screened in Galician with English subtitles. Any opening remarks to the films and the Q&A will be in English and Galician. Entry to the event is free but tickets must be reserved in advance via this link. This GFF event has been made possible thanks to support from the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at King’s College London, sponsorship from ABANCA and collaboration from the Office for Cultural & Scientific Affairs at the Spanish Embassy in London.
The documentary All the Women I Know focuses on three interconnected conversations on violence, gender and public space. In the first of these conversations, five friends talk about their experiences in an intimate conversation that is recorded and shown at a meeting between a group of women and later in a high school class. The final result is three conversations involving different generations that share experiences and feelings about public space, gender and violence.
In the way she films in black and white and places dialogue on top of dialogue, the director seeks to create a discourse about fear that does not generate fear, a discourse about violence that is not violent. Hers is a story about universal sorority that seeks to spark new conversations amongst those who watch it.
Since its premiere, Xiana do Teixiero’s documentary has been screened at numerous national festivals and at Toulouse’s Cinespaña. It has received multiple prizes, including the Audience Prize at Primavera do Cine de Vigo, the Audience Prize and the DOCMA Prize at Alcanes – Festival de Cine Documental de Cádiz and the Screenly Prize at Documenta Madrid. It has also received the Special Mention Feature Doc award at Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival and a special mention from the jury at OUFF – Festival de Cine Internacional de Ourense.
Sundance Prize
Matria comes to the GFF as one of the most well-recognized titles in Galician cinema and with a host of awards to its name including the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, the best Spanish short film at Seminci in Vallodalid and prizes for best film and actress at Alcine, the Festival Internacional de Alcalá de Henares, to mention just some of the sixty awards this film has won at national and international festivals.
An impressive array of awards for a piece of cinema about what happens when communication channels are not open. The film shatters the myth of Galician matriarchy and shows one day in the life of Ramona who works at a canning factory. The camera follows the protagonist showing her daily routine in a way that is almost reminiscent of a documentary, a daily routine that is defined by fatigue, broken communication channels at work and at home and the refuge Ramona seeks in her relationships with her daughter and granddaughter.
Directors
Xiana do Teixeiro is a filmmaker interested in intimacy, identity, gender construction and ecology. She holds a PhD and her research focuses on Audiovisual Communication. She is a creator, musical producer and cofounder of the production Company Walkie Talkie Films. She won the Proyecto X Films and the Festival Punto de Vista 2015 (Navarra) with Carretera de una sola dirección. She is currently focusing on Proyecto Diario, an artistic investigation into and film in production on the teenage diary of a young woman. All the Women I Know (2018) is her first feature-length film. Álvaro Gago studied Audiovisual Communication and Piano in Galicia before moving to Chicago where he trained in acting and theatre direction at North Park University. Later he moved to London where he graduated from London Film School with the short film Curricán in 2013. Professionally he combines his work as a director with the work he does as an editor and a film teacher. He has recently finished filming his new short film, 16 de decembro, and he is working on a script for his first feature-length film.