The Spanish-Venezuelan Elena Duque has been making (mostly) animated films for the last ten years. A discontinuous line interrupted by her work as a film writer and programmer, and for several changes of location. In this presentation we will discover her works, preceded by a short illustrated talk in which she will explain who she is and why she makes films: the DIY inspiration from zine culture, how she learn to animate by herself, her drive for making personal films and her take on experimental animation, among many other things. Then we will see her films, most of them around the idea of home and belonging, with different and playful takes on animation techniques and ideas. Finally, we will see a selection of commissions. A colorful and varied joyride, a delightful tutti frutti of friendly films (some of them in super 8), a feast of physical and emotional textures in which melancholy and sense of humour collide.
PROGRAM
CÓMO HACER UN FANZINE
Elena Duque, 2010, video, 2’
“How to make a zine”: this is what this “educational film” teaches you. A DIY animated tutorial to get you started in the DIY world of zines.
COLECCIONISMO
Elena Duque, 2013, super 8, 2’35’’During 2013, I lived in a sublet house in Canada, and I got my first super 8 camera. This house was full of collectibles such as vases, clocks, plates and all kind of little objects. So I figured out a way to steal all this stuff with my camera.(E.D.)
ÑAM
Elena Duque, 2014, video, 2’18’’
Fruits are one of the good things in life. This film is dedicated to their tanginess and sweetness, a jumpy animation of fruits dancing to the rhythm of the song “El mango” by the Venezuelan singer Jesús Sevillano.
LA MAR SALADA
Elena Duque, 2014, video, 2’51’’
"Our love is blue, like the sea, blue" (Christian Castro). A film about the salty (Galician) sea, with a medley of (Asturian) sea songs by the Coral Bajamar de Luanco.
DE CARA A LA GALERÍA
Elena Duque, 2014, super 8, 4’’
A film in the spirit of this quote by Florence Foster Jenkins: “People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing”. The title is a pun: in Spanish, “vivir de cara a la galería” means living for the appearances. But, literally, it also means living in a room with a gallery like the one I lived in 2014.
POSTALES
Elena Duque, 2016, video, 3’37’’
A collection of animated postcards made in Galicia: the white balconies and buildings in A Coruña, the ships in the city port, and the abandoned theme park El Pasatiempo in Betanzos.
PLA Y CANCELA
Elena Duque, 2017, video, 2’41’’
A temporary home, still inhabited by the traces of those who spent their lives there in the past. An animated game with the lights, objects and ghosts (locals and visitors) of a house in Pla y Cancela street in A Coruña.
VALDEDIÓS
Elena Duque, 2019, video, 3’11’’
In Valdediós Gualterius built a monastery in the 13th Century. In Valdediós there is a wall, there is a horse, there is a road, there is the whole universe.
COLECCIÓN PRIVADA
Elena Duque, 2020, super 8, 10’
A display of my own private collection, that comprises all kinds of collectibles: from postcards and stamps, to the objects, images and songs that build the memories of a life.
COMMISSIONS
A selection of animated commissions: from festival trailers and music videos, to a brownies recipe and animated fragments for a tv show that was never made.
Trailer FilMadrid 2016 (Elena Duque, 2016, video, 58’’), Trailer (S8) 2017 (Elena Duque, 2017, video, 24’’), Trailer SACO 2018 (Elena Duque, 2018, video, 1’11’’), Animated Fragments for Tutti Frutti pilot (Elena Duque, 2015, video, 5’), Let’s Make Brownies (Elena Duque, 2015, video, 2’), Music video “El texu de Bermiego” for Montañas (Elena Duque, 2013, video, 2’), Music video “I’m Not You Will” for Los Jaguares de la Bahía (Elena Duque, 2017, video, 2’42’’)