Robin Bank
PerSo Award
By Anna Giralt Gris
Spain, 2022, 79’
Saturday, Oct. 01, Méliès Cinema , Via della Viola 1, 9:30 p.m.
(Repeat) Monday, Oct. 03, Méliès Cinema, Via della Viola 1, 3 p.m.
SCHEDA FILM
Directed and written: Anna Giralt Gris
Producer: GusanoFilms Jorge Caballero
Producers: Indi Film Arek Gielnik Sonia Otto
Director of photography: Aïda Torrent Ciudad
Sound recordist: Alejandro Molano
Lead animators: Laura Ginès Pepon Meneses
Editors: Anna Giralt Gris Florencia Aliberti
Music: Meike Katrin Stein
Sound design: Tom Weber Andy Mühlschlegel Luis Schöffend
SINOPSYS
ROBIN BANK is the story of a Catalan activist who between 2005 and 2008 he took out loans of half a million euros which he never repaid. Instead, he used the money to fund social projects. After having been incarcerated for two months, he was released on bail, and while he was awaiting trial, he escaped the country, declaring himself a fugitive from the law. He stated that he committed the robbery as an act of civil disobedience to reveal the bad practices of the banking system and also, to encourage people to think differently and join him in his effort to create another, more equal and sustainable world. The movie will reconstruct the robbery with animation and will discover the person behind it through the research of the director. ROBIN BANK is a movie about our right to believe that another world is possible. But is there still room in the 21st century for this quixotic idea of a single person trying to redeem an entire planet? A hybrid documentary that moves between the idealistic dreams of this activist and the reality.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
As a filmmaker, I’ve always been interested in social and political matters because I firmly believe that movies can have an impact on the way we perceive the world. As a citizen, I feel grave concern about the aggressiveness of the world we live in and what we leave behind for future generations. Enric contacted me four years ago to propose an assignment: to film a project he was working on. Though I did not accept the assignment, I felt that I could not miss the opportunity to tell his story because it connected me to something that I thought I had lost: faith in our actions and the belief that we can promote change. When I was young, I felt that my documentaries could change the world, and of course, after a while, I realized that was never going to happen, and gradually I lost some of the initial naïveté that made me do things. This film helps me to reconnect with this feeling and makes me reflect upon my role in society; what am I doing to improve it? How do I collaborate? As the process of making this film transforms me, I feel the urgency to make a motivating movie that addresses today’s most vital issues via a compelling story. We are living in an uncertain and unstable period of history; that’s why I think we need stories that help us believe that another world is possible.
Anna Giralt Gris
Anna Giralt Gris is a filmmaker and new media creator. Her last short film, “44 messages from Catalonia” has been produced by Field of Vision and published in the prestigious medium “The Intercept”. She has directed and produced several short documentaries in countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, which have received recognition at international festivals. Her last work was the VR experience “Chronicle of a Vanished City” premiered at SXSW VR Cinema. She has been selected for the 2018 IDFA DocLab Academy and the 2019 Berlinale Talent Campus. Her first feature documentary is “Robin Bank”.
FILMOGRAPHY
Robin Bank (2021)
44 messages from Catalonia (2018)
Europe Trap (2012)
About Home (2008)
Another Life (2005)
Human Shields Diary in Baghdad (2003)
One Day Around Iran (2002)