What I’m doing in this visual Word?
PerSo Award
By Manuel Embalse
Argentina, 2020, 64’
Tuesday 5th october Cinema Zenith – 21.00 Wednesday 6th october Cinema Zenith – 15.00 (replica)
Director, script, editing and sound design: Manuel Embalse
Cast and camera: Zezé Fassmor
Production: Esteban Vijnovich
Director of photography and camera: Joaquín Maito
Assistant Director: Ignacio Losada
Direct sound: Esteban Bellotto
Editor assistant and graphic design: Tatiana Mazú González
Color: Daniela Belén Medina Silva
Sound mix: Hernán Higa and Alan Fridman
Music: Lost group Gustavo Obligado, Franco Calluso, Alan Serué, Juan Crelier, Manuel Embalse and Pablo Reche
VFX: Rodrigo Noya
Production company: Antes Muerto Cine
SYNOPSIS
What is it like to produce images in 2019 being blind? Zezé Fassmor is a peruvian multidisciplinary artist based in Buenos Aires. He lost his sight at age 25 and today, at 32 and with the idea of seeing again, believing in science and technology, he films and takes photos generating his own footage to see those images in the future. We travel to the Iguazu Falls, exploring the geography of the senses to film another scene of his imagination. What’s an image? What we see or what we have in our mind?
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
One day, I dreamed that I was blind. I saw distorted color images, as if they were stains from analog film chemicals. When I woke up, I thought about what would happen if I ever go blind, being a filmmaker, photographer, editor and teacher of an audiovisual workshop. I thought of Zezé. I wrote to him to get together and talk about the creation of images in the present. We talked about the spaces that he wanted to know before he went blind: among them, the Iguazú Falls. Few months after that chat, we were already filming. Accompanying the creation of his footage in case he can see again is a premise that fills me with enthusiasm.
Manuel Embalse
Buenos Aires, 1991. He builds and destroys sounds and images in all possible ways. He has always been a self-manager: he writes, assists, produces, edits and he’s also a musician and sound designer. He has a degree in Audiovisual Arts from UNA (National University of Art) and since 2014, coordinates a tutorial workshop for documentary and experimental projects.
He directed, filmed, wrote, sounded, edited and produced the following short films: The universal history of reality (2013), Blue ice meditation (2014), Nature’s technology (2014), 2015 (2015), I won’t let you down (2015), Pray in a lottery (2016), Delete videos (2017), The natal chart of Argentina (2018) and Encyclopedia Catalog (2020).
He published three web series based on personal records: All income is paid (2014), The other side of the World Cup (2016) and Videodiaries (2019). In 2019, he won a fund from the Biennial of Young Art to produce “What am I doing in this visual world?”, first feature film that portrays the life of Zezé Fassmor, a blind artist from Peru.
Coeditor with Tatiana Mazú González of “Owner’s portrait” by Joaquín Maito (Best First Feature at its premiere at IDFF Ji.hlava 2018). Assistant director, assistant editor and additional cameraman for Tatiana Mazú González’s “Shady River” (Charles de Beauregard Award at its premiere at FIDMarseille 2020).
Editor with Manque La Banca, director of “Esquí”, premiered at Berlinale Forum 2021 and received the FIPRESCI award.
His films were selected in Festifreak, Cámara Lúcida, Novos Cinemas, Corriente Non Ficción, 3Margens, FICE, FICCBA, DOCBSAS and FIVA. In 2019, he participated in the Berlinale Talents BA.
He received the support of LABEX, the National Endowment for the Arts, Atelier Talents Buenos Aires, TransLab and the Biennial of Young Art.
He’s currently working on his second feature film “The New Ruins”.
As for future projects, from the images generated in the filming and experiences or comments from viewers, they are designing a book that will be published first in a virtual way with audio description, and then in physical format with details in braille about the description of images, as if described by Siri, the artificial intelligence of Zezé’s iPhone.
FILMOGRAPHY
THE UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF REALITY (2013)
BLUE ICE MEDITATION (2014)
NATURE’S TECHNOLOGY (2014)
2015 (2015)
I WON’T LET YOU DOWN (2015)
PRAY IN LOTTERY (2016)
DELETE VIDEOS (2017)
THE NATAL CHART OF ARGENTINA (2018)
ENCYCLOPEDIA CATALOG (2020)
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD CUP (2016)
VIDEODIARIES (2019)
WHAT I AM DOING IN THIS VIRTUAL WORLD (2020)
OWNER’S PORTRAIT (2018)
SHADY RIVER (2020)
ESQUÍ (2021)