keep looking at the world

Following the cancellation of the festival’s 2020 edition due to Covid-19, MDOC is back. From August 02 to 08, Melgaço will once again be the center of initiatives focused on documentary filmmaking. 31 films that address social, individual, cultural or identity issues are candidates for the Jean-Loup Passek Award and the D. Quijote Award, awarded by FICC, International Federation of Film Clubs. The Official Jury is made up of directors Julia Kushnarenko and Susana de Sousa Dias, Alessandro Negrini director, Alfonso Palazón Meseguer Professor and director, and Professor and programmer Jane Pinheiro. The FICC Jury is composed by António Francisco Pita, from the Center for Cinematographic Studies, Dagmar Kamlah, German filmmaker and curator, and Dragan Miolinkovic, professor, producer, playwright and director.

This year, in collaboration with the Jean-Loup Passek Film Museum, the Award for Best Film Poster with Portuguese or Galician production was created. This prize will be awarded to the designer of the winning poster by a Jury formed by Paula Tavares, Jorge Silva and Marcos Covelo. Other parallel initiatives continue to affirm MDOC' identity:

Off Screen, the Summer Course coordinated by José da Silva Ribeiro, will approach first-person narratives and includes the collaboration of the National Association of Researchers in Visual Arts of Brazil, Federal University of Goiás, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Federal University of Pará, Federal University of Pernambuco, the Jean Rouch Foundation, International Ethnographic Film Festival of Pará, Recife International Ethnographic Film Festival and Festival International du Film Documentaire Après Varan;

Frontal Shot, the cinematographic and photographic residencies oriented by director Pedro Sena Nunes, will contribute, through the shooting of documentaries and production of photographic projects, to the enrichment of the intangible heritage of Melgaço and will show all films and photographic projects made in the previous edition;

Kino Meeting, an international meeting of educational film services coordinated by Patrícia Nogueira, will debate film literacy aimed at children and adults with physical or mental disabilities, marginalized or at-risk audiences;

The project Who Are We Here? Coordinated by Álvaro Domingues, it will interrogate the geographic space and local society, this year dedicated to the Union of Parishes of Castro Laboreiro and Lamas de Mouro.

In this seventh edition, MDOC will join the celebration of Brandeiro Day, a event that celebrates transhumance and is a tribute to the builders of the agro-pastoral community of Branda da Aveleira. A debate on popular architecture with the participation of architects António Menéres and Fernando Cerqueira Barros, geographer Álvaro Domingues and José Rodrigues Lima, the main driving force behind this celebration, a visit to Branda da Aveleira and the inauguration of two exhibitions by photographer Luís Portela, will be part of the program.

In addition to these initiatives, MDOC will hold workshops led by Pedro Costa, in collaboration with La Plantación, by Abi Feijó and Tânia Dinis. The Melgaço Film Museum inaugurates the exhibition The Image Enabler of the Centre Pompidou, curated by Bernard Despomadères and Manuela Lima, Casa da Cultura opens To be and to Return, by João Gigante, and the Civic Centre of Castro Laboreiro will exhibit Who Are We Here across the plateau, curated by Daniel Maciel.

On August 07 and 08, Hop to Melgaço proposes an intense weekend with film screenings, visits to exhibitions, the Jean-Loup Passek Cinema Museum and Espaço Memória Museum.

Team AO NORTE