BLUE


Experimental Documentary, 2023
Cyanotype |´17 | Cuba - Belgium 
Estudio ST & DocNomads



Blue is the result of a collaborative process with women who have suffered from postpartum depression.
The director organizes a cyanotype workshop for these mothers to create their own images that illustrate their emotions: fears, dreams and experiences through the different shades of blue.






With: Atiaf Alwazir, Annika Alma, Laura Vingan, Vivian Hayles
Script, directing, editing & soundtrack design: Violena Ampudia
Cyanotype workshop: Violena Ampudia
Production: Violena Ampudia and Daniela Muñoz
Sound Mix: Glenda L. Martínez & Velia Díaz de Villalvilla
Color grading: Sujay Iyer
Darkroom assistant & animations: Maria Casas Castillo
Poster design: Maura Grimaldi




FESTIVALS & AWARDS:

2024

/ Honorable Mention A38 KASSEL INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM AND VIDEO  FESTIVAL, Germany.

/ GRANADA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - International Short Film Competition, Spain.

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


/ EQUIS, Feminist Film Festival of Ecuador.

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

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

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

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

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

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

2023

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

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

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



                                             


PRESS:

¨Signs, shapes, writing, abstract and figurative images alternate in this variation on blue directed by Violena Ampudia. The director brought together women who have experienced postpartum depression in a cyanotype workshop and asked them to transfer hidden desires, forbidden thoughts, and deep fears onto printed paper, describing the emotional tones of their psychological condition through shades of Prussian blue, the color of contemplation, feeling and melancholy. The result is a visceral work that touches the intimate chords of the female universe. Guilt, low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness and inadequacy float in this atypical depiction of motherhood accompanied by an essential but effective soundtrack. A sensitive film that deals frankly with a complex topic that is too often experienced as taboo in Western society.¨




"Blue, with an impregnable lightness, explores the condition of mother as a perennial contradiction and not as a dogma. It dialogues with layers of the psyche so deep that they can be considered the thresholds of the soul. The cinematographic fabric that Violena Ampudia weaves emulates the powerful subtlety of natural silk. The blue of her images, sounds and words encompasses the entire spectrum."
Rialta



¨(Special Mention Blue at Ji.hlava) Jury statement: A piece of visual poetry processing the incredibly tough and still often taboo subject of postpartum depression, and in doing so becomes a tool to help the women themselves. A participatory therapy session that takes you through the surface of sound and in turn allows the audience to immerse themselves in a 16 min snippet of a women's personal story.¨

Ji.hlava Official Website