Violena Ampudia
(Cuba, 1993)
 

Cuban filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist based in Lisbon.

Her films explore interpersonal relationships, encounters and growth processes, mainly from female perspectives. Lately, more focused on collaborative and artisanal filmmaking processes such as embroidery animation, cyanotype, animation in analog, filming and analog processing. Her films have been screened and awarded in festivals such as Ji.hlava IDFF, Cinélatino Rencontres de Toulouse, Fipadoc, Dei Popoli, É tudo verdade, BelDocs, Belo Horizonte IFF, Curta Kinoforum ISSF in São Paulo, Potiers IFF and Doc Buenos Aires IDFF. She is currently part of the analog film collective Laboratório da Cave and MUTIM - Mulheres Trabalhadoras das Imagens em Movimento (Women Workers in Moving Images), both based in Lisbon and developing her first hybrid feature film Baby Blue.

BA in Performing Arts, at National School of Arts, Havana, Cuba in 2012. MA in Documentary Filmmaking at the International Film and TV School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (EICTV) in 2020. MA in Documentary Film Directing at DOCNOMADS - the itinerant two-year MA program between Portugal-Hungary- Belgium - in 2022. 

Due to her last master's degree (DocNomads) she has made her latest films in Portugal, Hungary, Spain, Belgium, Serbia, surrounded by fellow filmmakers from diverse cultures, from almost all over the world. Therefore her film approach is deeply permeated by an openness to understand and incorporate other cultures and diversities.


CV


EDUCATION

2021/2022: Documentary Film Directing (MA) |DOCNOMADS, Lisbon-Budapest- Brussels.

2017/2020:Documentary Film Directing (MA) | International Film and TV School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV), Cuba.

2013-/2017:Audiovisual Communication (BA)| Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) Havana, Cuba.

2009/2012: Performing Arts | National School of Arts, Cuba.


FILMS

2024 Correspondências fílmicas II [1 '35'', B&W, Laboratório da Cave, 16mm, Portugal]

2023 Correspondências fílmicas I [1 '31'', B&W, Laboratório da Cave, 16mm, Portugal]

2023 Blue [17´, Cyanotype,  experimental documentary, DocNomads, Belgium]

2022 Petricor [9´,Color, documentary, DocNomads, Belgium]

2022  Shooting Leticia [9´,Color, documentary, DocNomads, Portugal]

2022 A leaf from a normal tree [14´15´´,Color, documentary,DocNomads, Hungary]


2021 Neverland [11´,Color, documentary, EICTV, Cuba]

2020 Utopia 360 [7´,Color, experimental documentary, 16mm, EICTV, Cuba]

2020 Nuestra casa (Our home) [16´,Color, documentary, EICTV, Cuba]

2019 Nicho [11´33´´,Color, documentary, EICTV, Cuba]

2019 El sueño del caballo (The horse dream) [3´,Color, documentary, Cuba]

2018 La espera (Waiting) [13´,Color, documentary, EICTV, Cuba]

2018 Moebius [3´,Color, fiction, EICTV, Cuba]

2017 Roma [19´23´´,Color, documentary, EICTV, Cuba]

2016 Limbo [17´´,Color, documentary, Cuba]

2015 Tilín Tilín (Ring Ring)[3´,Color, fiction, FAMCA, Cuba]

2015 La cabeza dentro del agua (Head under water) [22´,Color, fiction, Cuba]

2013 Time [1´Color, Fiction, FAMCA, Cuba]


COLLABORATIONS

2024-2023 Correspondências fílmicas between sound and visual artists, Laboratorio da Cave analog film collective.

2024 Embroidered animation for the poem La lengua materna, by Florencia Guzzetti, Vol. 3 Volta para tua terra, Urutau editorial, Portugal.

2023 Director of Photography Super 8mm, Canarias o Andalucía o Mayorca [Documentary, Dir. Patricia Andrés, Spain.]

2022 Director of Photography, Rajkova Sreca  [Documentary, Dir. Jovan Dopuj, Interaction Docs, Serbia.]

2022 Co-director, Ostende- La mer - Un jour [Documentary, Co- directors: Davina Maria, Giorgi Parkosadze & Juliette Menthonnex, DocNomads, Belgium.]

2021 Co-director, Upon the clouds they are spinning the wheel of fortune [Documentary, Co- directors: Daryna Mamaisur , Sujay Iyer & Hanna Kádár, DocNomads, Hungary.]

2021 Co-director, Are you a night person? [Documentary | Co- director: Ghada Fikri, DocNomads, Portugal.]

2019 Direct sound and assistant director, The crossing [Documentary, Dir. Otavio Almeida, EICTV, Cuba.]


FESTIVALS, EXHIBITIONS & AWARDS

2024

BUCHAREST INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL, Blue ,  - International Short Film Competition, Rumania.

FESTIVAL JOVENES REALIZADORES - GRANADA IFF, Blue, International Short Film Competition : Section Aguaespejo, Spain.

KASSEL INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM AND VIDEO  FESTIVAL, Blue  , Germany.

EQUIS, Feminist Film Festival of Ecuador, Blue  ,Ecuador.

KIEV INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL , Blue  , - Section ¨Fem*Riot¨, Ukraine.

LINOLEUM CONTEMPORARY ANIMATION AND MEDIA ART FESTIVAL , Blue  , - Section ¨Kids are(n´t) alright¨, Ukraine.

BELDOCS INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY  FILM FESTIVAL, Blue  ,  - Competitive section "Meteors", Serbia.

É TUDO VERDADE INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY  FILM FESTIVAL, Blue  , - International Competition of Short-Length Documentaries, Brazil.

FIPADOC INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY  FILM FESTIVAL, Blue  ,  - New Talents, France.

TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Blue  , - Section ¨Contemporary Scenes¨, Taiwan.

CUBAN CINEMA WITHOUT BORDERS, Petricor  , Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, California.

INSTAR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Petricor, Paris-Berkeley-Barcelona-Cuba-Munich.

USELESS FRONTIERS #2, Petricor,  cycle of contemporary self-referential cinema, Lens Film School,  Madrid.

NOITE DE CURTAS, Shooting Leticia, organized by MUTIM, Cine-Teatro Curvo Semedo, Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal.

BOGOSHORTS, La Espera, Visions of Latin American women, Colombia.

DONA'M cine, La Espera, INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST SHORT FILM FESTIVAL.

2023

FESTIVAL DEL NUEVO CINE LATINOAMERICANO , Blue  ,- Section ¨Vanguardias¨, Havana, Cuba.

DEI POPOLI INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY  FILM FESTIVAL, Blue  , - Section¨Doc at work Future Campus¨, Italy.

Special Mention JI.HLAVA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY  FILM FESTIVAL , Blue  ,- Section ¨Fascinations¨, Czech Republic.

Contemporary Cuban documentary film exhibition , Petricor, Casa de América, Madrid.

16mm negative screening at the LABORATORIO DA CAVE collective exhibition,  Utopia 360, Galeria Nowhere, Lisbon, Portugal.  

2022

Official Selection at BELO HORIZONTE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Shooting Leticia, Brazil.

Official selection INTERACTION DOCS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Neverland, Serbia.

Official selection INTERACTION DOCS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Rajkova Sreca, Serbia.

DOCUMENTA KASSEL ¨Cuban Independent Cinema¨, Head under water, Germany.

2021

Best Non-Fiction Short Film at the INTERNATIONAL FILM SCHOOL FESTIVAL, Neverland,Uruguay.

Official Selection KINOTI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL , Neverland, Mexico.

Official Selection at the EQUINOXIO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Neverland,Colombia.

Official Selection at TUEBINGEN CINELATINO, Neverland, Germany.

Official Selection at FECISLA, Neverland,Colombia.

CURTA KINOFORUM International Short Film Festival of Sao Paulo, Neverland, Brazil.

Official Selection EQUINOXIO FILM FESTIVAL  Utopia 360, Colombia.

Best Film Award at ATEMPORAL FILC  Utopia 360,  Section ¨Revoluciones Fílmicas¨, Peru.

Muestra de Cine Joven Cubano en el Sur  Utopia 360, Montevideo, Uruguay.

RENDER University Film Festival  Utopia 360, Peru.

EXTRAMUROS INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL  Utopia 360, Spain.

2020

World Premiere at Ji.lhava IDFF  Utopia 360, Section ¨Fazcinations¨ Czech Republic.

Official Selection at TLANCHANA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Our home, Mexico.

Official Selection at CINELATINO TUEBINGEN , Our home, Germany.

Best Documentary in TLANCHANA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL , La Espera, Mexico.

Official Selection at SEV DOC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, La Espera, Russia.

Official Selection at CINELATINO TUEBINGEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, La Espera, Germany.

Official Selection at MUESTRA DE JÓVENES REALIZADORES, La Espera, Havana, Cuba.

2019

CUBAN YOUNG FILM SHOWCASE in the South, La Espera, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Official Selection at DOC BUENOS AIRES, Roma, Argentina.

Official Selection at 31 CINÉLATINO RENCONTRES DE TOULOUSE, Roma France.

MUESTRA DE CINE JOVEN CUBANO EN EL SUR, Montevideo, Roma, Uruguay.

2018

MUESTRA DE CINE JOVEN CUBANO, Roma, Havana, Cuba.

2017

FESTIVAL DEL NUEVO CINE LATINOAMERICANO, Limbo, Section ¨La hora del corto¨, Havana, Cuba.

Showcase of Cuban Cinema of the South, Montevideo, Head under water, Uruguay.

Mention the Screenplay and the Female Acting, Tilín  Tilín,  MUESTRA DE JÓVENES REALIZADORES.  Havana, Cuba.

Showcase of Young Cuban Cinema of the South, Montevideo, Tilín  Tilín, Uruguay.

Official Selection 3rd SUPEROFF - INTERNATIONAL SUPER 8mm FILM FESTIVAL of São Paulo, Tirisia, Brazil.

2016

FESTIVAL DEL NUEVO CINE LATINOAMERICANO , Head under water, Section ¨The Colors of Diversity¨. Havana, Cuba.

Award Best Female Acting, MUESTRA DE JOVENES REALIZADORES, Head under water, Havana, Cuba.

Best Directing and Best Short Film, ALMACÉN DE LA IMAGEN, Tilín  Tilín, Camagüey, Cuba.

2015

Award Best Fiction, ALMACÉN DE LA IMAGEN, Head under water, Camagüey, Cuba.

2014

Best Unpublished Screenplay Award, IMAGO , Head under water, Havana, Cuba.


WORKSHOPS


2024 Workshop on Analog Rotoscopy and Embroidery Animation with Violeta Mora,  ALLMO, Porto, Portugal.

2024 Analog Rotoscopy Workshop given in collaboration with Violeta Mora, ADAO OPEN DAY, Barreiro, Portugal.


2022 Cyanotype Workshop for mothers with postpartum depression, was part of the process of the film BLUE, Bruxelles, Belgium.


COMMISSIONED

2024 Director, DOP & Editor, Culture Moves Europe, Short documentary series| Artists video portraits, Spain - France - Belgium - The Netherlands - Croatia - Romania - Hungary.

2023 Event official photographer for Indie Lisboa International Film Festival, Portugal.

2022 Photographic and videographic documentation , Effetto 48 Multidisciplinary Festival of Arts, Panicale, Italy.