RURALIA

 

 

We are an independent non-profit cultural organisation involving a group of film makers, geographers, designers, historians and a senior film colourist based or linked with the city of Chivilcoy (Argentina), one of the most important peripheral cities in the Pampas area. The idea of creating a film festival in this town emerged from our experiences in various national and international film festivals.

 

Our vision to value these experiences shaped a space for dialogue and circulation of cultural goods for the whole community: the First Rural Film Festival in Chivilcoy – RURALIA (August 2015). We aimed to bring to the local community of Chivilcoy stimulating experiences and new forms of cultural consumption so as to help to reflect on different views, perspectives and genres of film making and audiovisual art in general.

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RURALIA had a high impact at the local level and this was not only because it brought a unique thing such as “rural cinema”, but also because the festival became a place of sociability and exchange. Dialogue, reflection and community participation were critical for the success of the festival, and for three days hundreds of people joined us in the town’s emblematic ‘Metropol Cinema’ to enjoy free screenings of films from six different countries. Students from primary and high schools, social and community local organisations, art professionals and the general public had the chance to talk with some of the filmmakers, juries and members of the RURALIA team.

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Only one year ago the birth of RURALIA posed a strong opportunity for the development of culture in Chivilcoy. Its preparation also meant a substantial learning for us, despite the financial challenges for a non-profit organization. Above all, our ambition was to continue growing and to open up new possibilities and explorations for a different cinema. But also for a public actively engaging and exploring  new cultural proposals.

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These opportunities will be further explored in the second edition of RURALIA (November 4th, 5th and 6th, 2016) where we expect to grow the influence of the Festival into other Argentinean rural communities and minor cities with expertise related to the cinema and audiovisual media in general[1]. This wide range of festivals shows a large variety of topics. However, a significant gap was the “rural” subject, which is not a minor issue for Latin America in general and Argentina in particular: the rural has played a leading role in shaping landscapes, people, identities and places. And still is.

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[1] In the last few years a lot of towns in the province of Buenos Aires are developing similar activities. Among others are Saladillo (Vecinos Film Festival), Junín (Festival of Film and Video of Junín), Tandil (Tandil Cine), Maipú (Maipú Short Film Festival), Villa Gessel (UNICIPAR), Merlo (Short Stories Festival), SFIC (Ituzaingó), Banfield (Fecico: Conurbano Film Festival), Pinamar (Screen Pinamar), Escobar (Festival of Independent Film and Video), Olavarría (National Film Festival).