How do you even begin to define the uniqueness of a film festival/media showcase/art exhibition like Alucine? The quick answer is that you probably cannot, and that lack of a quick and easy definition insinuates depth and the unique richness of Alucine. There are clearly high ambitions behind the creators and organizers of this festival, which you begin to notice it with the high quality of their media handouts, their Berlin-like guides, the ultra sharp and friendly staff/volunteers who made our visit perhaps one of the easiest ones in this year full of festivals. Alucine surprisingly lasts 3 full weeks during a time when most festivals seem to be going back to basics due the damage the economic downturn has caused.
What I found refreshing as well was the sheer energy and creativity in the way they use their resources and how unwilling the Alucine troupe seems to want to compromise their dreams of a diverse and grand festival. I spoke to the intense yet jovial executive director Sinara Rozo to get a sense of what Alucine is all about.
Sinara Rozo to the right and yours truly (with paint on my face) left
Sinara can you give us a bit of an overview of Alucine?
H! I am Sinara Roso I am the executive director an co-founder of Alucine Latin Media Festival, we began this project with Jorge Lozano back in 1995 when I came to Toronto. It was a by-annual event until 1999 when we were able to secure funds to operate thanks to the support of the different councils for the arts. We then started doing this annually. We are now celebrating our 10th year right now and we could not be happier! Now we are going big by extending the festival for 3 full weeks.
Sinara Rozo
Well we rely a lot in our community and our volunteers, and we are very committed and stubborn people because it has been really challenging, in fact we have almost the same funds, actually and in fact, we have lost some, but we went bigger because wanted to celebrate our 10th anniversary with a bang and we decided that nothing would stop us. Alucine grew from a 3 day event to a week event into a 10 day film and new media film festival, and then onto a very diverse and flexible festival. This time around we are doing 3 weeks because there is so much talent, a lot of films, video installations and people that we wanted to pay homage to. But how are we doing it? We are exhausted but we make it happen, it may be by virtue of a magic wand!
I sense a lot of passion involved in this, whether it be the volunteers or yourself. In an ideal world what are you hoping the people attending get from Alucine?
Well first of all we are hoping that everyone notices that there is a lot of Latino-Canadian talent. We want to be a window, a platform to connect all these artists on a national and international level. Secondly, we have a “Global Panorama ” films and installations where we bring people from all over the planet, which allows us to put our local people in a wider context. We need to always ask ourselves Who am I here? What am I doing in Canada? What am I doing in this continent? And who am I as an artist in this whole global era? That is the intention of the international program: to basically questions your own role as an artist.
Andres Garcia de la Rota
We also managed to speak to Colombian artist Andres Garcia de la Rota whose video installation “Magdalena River” caught our eye immediately this is what he had to say:
Tell me a bit about your intriguing piece?
Well I am from Bogota Colombia. Well my work speaks or better yet it is an investigation on the memory of the “Magdalena River”. It is the most important river in Colombia which the Spanish Conquistadores used to try to find El Dorado. The river is very important as well in terms of newer history as much of what happened back then is repeating itself.
How has the reception to your work been thus far?
This work has been incredibly important to me. When I originally went to the river I had a different concept that had more to do with the current situation of the farmers and fisherman there, but that all changed once I got to see the reality of the place after a big flood. I am hoping that when people look at this they will find that they are not merely looking at nature but that nature is looking back at you. It is very important to me as it earned me the National Art Prize in Colombia as well. I come from a country with a lot of violence in it and artists are trying to represent this violence in a very direct way. I prefer to not speak about violence but to showcase the ruins of what is left behind it by it.
Would you say that your work is ultimately optimistic or merely a reflection of the reality you faced?
I would have to say that my work is ultimately the poetry of a catastrophe…
"Magdalena River"
For more information on Alucine and all of its wonderful diversity please visit www.alucinefestival.com for a full listing of all the events in the next 3 weeks! We will bring you further coverage in the weeks to come!
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