• The most important industry meeting in the country had 115 guests from Chile and the world and 95 selected projects in 1100 meetings.
• Conecta granted 13 awards to the most outstanding projects in the closing ceremony. Jorge, the documentary project from the director and producer Nicolas Pavie, was the most awarded film of the event.
MORE THAN A THOUSAND MEETINGS WERE HELD
The sixth version of CONECTA, an initiative organized by the Chilean Corporation of Documentary, revealed two main concepts for the documentary industry: diversity and community. «It was a challenge for all of us to keep connecting despite today’s difficulties. This has demonstrated the need to keep growing the artistic stance of projects through feedback received in meetings and through the collaboration for both its financing and its distribution,» comments Paola Castillo, executive director of the Chilean Documentary Corporation CCDoc.
The team behind Conecta is satisfied with the level reached. They counted with representatives from more than 30 countries from different continents such as America, Europe, and Asia, more than 100 guests and over 1100 meetings with agents from the audiovisual industry. Paola Castillo from CCDoc added that «the documentary industry has pushed to a great extent to keep growing in these circumstances and, for this, we are delighted.» Another of the significant challenges was the historic partnership between the Santiago International Documentary Film Festival, FIDOCS, and Conecta through the section Docs in Progress FIDOCS + Conecta. This 2021, the most important festival celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new version which main objective was to contribute to the documentary community.
«It was an enriching experience for both the institutions and the projects that participated in this new section. I consider that they finished with the sense of living a powerful experience thanks to the collaboration of both teams that exceeded the expectations we had,» says Antonia Girardi, FIDOCS’ director.
JORGE, A CHILEAN DOCUMENTARY, WAS THE MOST AWARDED
Jorge
The Conecta experience didn’t only finish with the successful sections, workshops, and panels, but it also held a closing ceremony where thirteen important awards were given to the projects that outstood the most and caught the guest institutions’ attention. The most awarded project was Jorge, which portraits the life and career of the lead singer of Los Prisioneros, Jorge Gonzalez. The documentary project by the director and producer Nicolas Pavie and the producer Jorge Catoni took three awards home: The formation platform Bolivia Lab gave them an invitation to the XI Incentive Finishing WIP of its 2022 edition; the Market Chile Prize, presented within the framework of the Docs in Progress FIDOCS + Conecta partnership, provides an award consisting of a diagnosis and mentoring for the distribution campaign; and the prize of the Cineteca Nacional, which grants laboratory processes, where the project can choose between different services. «Until now, we were only able to show the documentary in labs outside of Chile. So, to exhibit it here and to have a reception like it is also rewarding,» happily expresses Nicolas Pavie.
Nicolas Pavie, director of Jorge, with Diego Pino, executive director of CCDoc
Another moment was when Mediamorfosis recognized The Safest Place and gave them its award: a free accreditation to participate in the professional training workshop in Mediamorfosis 2022. This Chilean documentary project features the directors Magdalena Hurtado and Milena Castro and the producers Ignacia Merino and Isabel Reyes. «We feel very fortunate of being selected because doing new media in Chile is taking the plunge. Awards like these help us to keep thinking that we are on the right path and to keep moving forward,» commented Magdalena Hurtado, co-director and co-writer of The Safest Place, winner of the Mediamorfosis Award.
Magdalena Hurtado, codirector of The Safest Place, with Diego Pino, executive director of CCDoc
Other distinctions presented by Conecta were: The DocMontevideo Prize selected Every Document of Civilization by the director Tatiana Mazú to participate in the meetings of its 2022 version, including the accreditation. The DocsMX Prize chose Carmela and the Walkers by Esteban Coloma and Luis Herrera to integrate some of its industry activities in its 2022 edition. The Sofá Digital Award choose Home is Somewhere Else by Carlos Hagerman and Jorge Villalobos grant them the film’s distribution on Latin American platforms. FIDOCS First Cut Prize gave the prize to finalize the documentary Sleepless Bedtime Stories by Lila Penagos. The SONAMOS award was granted to Gorilla Woman by Fernanda Faya, which consists of three days of 5.1 sound mixing in the Sonamos studios plus a consultancy on the design of the soundtrack for the documentary. The R2Media Prize gave Lithic by Romina Ortega an award consisting of consultancy searching for file location and respective image rights. The Ficwallmapu Award vested Looking for my Family by Viviana Mamani Cori with a spot to participate in the MapuLab in march 2022. Also, the Cannes Doc Prize of the Marché Du Film awarded The Braves by Diana Ojeda with two accreditations to be part of the Marche du Film 2022. Finally, the Bolivia Lab platform, awarded a second prize to Birds in mind, directed by Samanta Yépez and produced by Christophe Kenderian, which consists of an invitation to participate in the Bolivia Lab 2022 «Cinema of the Future» Co-production Pitch Rally.
CONECTA PREPARES FOR ITS FUTURE EDITIONS
As expressed by its organizers, the realization of this version of Conecta was titanic but also gratifying when seeing how they overcame all the demands that a virtual edition with face-to-face activities required: the inauguration, the exhibition of the film Chile, The Obstinate Memory, by the renowned filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, and the closing ceremony.
Conecta team
Nine days in which everyone connected, erasing frontiers, talking about their projects, and creating ties that can boost the economy and culture of the country on the Latin American documentary industry scene. Conecta counted with 115 guests from Chile and the world and 95 projects selected in sections such as Connect with New Media, Connected, and Connect with the Roots Workshop.»We have the strength to keep going on, and we hope the next edition keeps growing by making new partnerships and strengthening the existent ones, and above all, offering space to a diversity of today’s creators that are very important, not only in the artistic stance but also in the topics they address with their documentaries which are essential for social discussion,» assures the director of CCDoc, Paola Castillo.
@copyright Corporación Chilena del Documental CCDoc