"Textures of Colonial Territories"
Brings together
Brings together
Brings together
Brings together
"Vast spaces unfold, inviting us to experience rich sensorial landscapes. Through a parallel lens, the directors guide us on a journey through these territories, where history and perception intertwine."
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Q&A with filmmaker Gabriella Dominguez Ruvalcaba and Producer Ana Pía Quintana Enciso
Discussant: Lorena Mostajo, Professor Visual Arts Department UC San Diego
11/13/2024 6:30 PM
UC San Diego - SME Theater
Heat Spells
Directed by: Sarah Ballard
The Fountain of Youth mythology has forever changed the landscape of St. Augustine, FL.
Heat Spells looks closely at Florida's tourist spaces, visiting contemporary locations that claim to be the site of the mythical spring. By combining various media, such as observational cinematography, found tourist footage, vacation maps, and the voices of tour guides and religious late-night television speakers, the film attempts to unearth the everlasting consequences of the Fountain of Youth and its entanglement with the origins of colonialism in the United States.
Heat Spells identifies tourism as the eternal reenactment of manifest destiny and the Fountain of Youth as a myth that underwrites the American dream. As myth and history conflate and obscure the imperialist motivations behind Ponce de Leon, the film responds by embodying the feverish experience of the “explorer’s” search for eternal youth, an act which parallels the compulsory capture inherent in tourist photography.
Experimental Documentary | 9 min | 2023 | 16mm, Mini DV
Audio language: English
Sarah Ballard
Filmmaker
Sarah Ballard is a filmmaker and educator originally from Northeast Florida and currently based in Milwaukee, WI. Her work concerns hauntological subjects––afterimages of colonialism, ghosts of the working class, and political residues of hysteria. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at Deluge Contemporary (Victoria, BC) and Mana Contemporary (Chicago) and has screened internationally at festivals such as Antimatter [Media Art], CROSSROADS, San Diego Underground Film Festival, Engauge Experimental Film Festival, and Onion City Experimental Film Festival. She is a recipient of the 2023 Princess Grace Award in Film and completed her MFA in Cinematic Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she currently teaches.
Formas de Atraveser un Territorio
Directed by: Gabriela Dominguez Ruvalcaba
In "Ways to Traverse a Territory," the filmmaker immerses herself in the
encounter with a Tsotsil family residing in the mossy mountain, just a few
kilometers away from the city. In this particular landscape, Doña Sebastiana
and her daughters tend to their sheep as a means of preserving their
cultural identity. The filmmaker revisits a photograph from her childhood
revealing the link with the territory they share, leading to an essayistic
exploration into the various ways of inhabiting a territory that undergoes
constant transformation. Simultaneously, the documentary calls into
question the artistry inherent in filmmaking. It reminds us to question: How
does our sense of belonging shape the way we see the world?
The film employs staging, archival imagery, and intimate conversations to
unveil how one's connection to a place gains significance through the
filmmaker's personal lens, meandering through themes of identity, the
transformation of the territory, and the intrinsic bond with nature, offering a
loving perspective on these interconnected features.
Documentary | 73 min | 2024 | Super 16mm
Audio language: Spanish
Subtitles language: English
Filmmaker
Gabriela Dominguez Ruvalcaba
Director and editor. Her work is nourished by interdisciplinary
experiences around narratives and explorations that arise from
her interest in dance and the environment. Since her first
documentary La Danza del Hipocampo (2014) she began a
search into the forms of film essay that led her to study a
master's degree at the EICTV (Cuba). She is a graduate of the
UDLAP communication degree and the master's degree in
Creative Documentary at the Autonomous University of
Barcelona; she is part of the National System of Art Creators
(2020-2023). "Formas de atravesar un territorio" is her second
feature film.
