(Flores)
TRAILER
29 min.
Winner of International Short Film Competition Sheffield DocFest 2024
POSTER
SYNOPSIS
An uncontacted Amazonian community suffers from the decision of an extreme right-wing Brazilian politician to destroy their land, based on the idea that resources have increased in price because of the war in Ukraine, a war initiated by a totalitarian Russian president. An American environmentalist, after the decisions of the US government to continue with policies that will increase global warming, decides to self-immolate to send a message, inspired by a Buddhist monk uprooted from his homeland years ago, for opposing both sides in the Vietnam War… these seemingly unconnected but internally dependent events on one another are broadcasted in Ecuador via Youtube under the gaze of the documentary filmmaker, who, when he leaves the screen, meets his 3-year-old son who marvels at the flowers growing in the garden. In this crossing of realities, a reflection on childhood and its innocence in a world threatened by human cruelty and climate change is interwoven.
Una comunidad amazónica no contactada sufre la decisión de un político brasileño de extrema derecha de destruir sus tierras, basándose en la idea de que los recursos han subido de precio a causa de la guerra de Ucrania, guerra iniciada por un presidente totalitario ruso. Un ecologista norteamericano, tras las decisiones del gobierno de Estados Unidos de continuar con políticas que aumentarán el calentamiento global, decide autoinmolarse para enviar un mensaje, inspirado en un monje budista desarraigado de su país años atrás, por oponerse a ambos bandos en la guerra de Vietnam… estos acontecimientos aparentemente inconexos pero internamente dependientes unos de otros son retransmitidos en Ecuador a través de Youtube bajo la mirada del documentalista, quien, al salir de la pantalla, se encuentra con su hijo de 3 años que se maravilla ante las flores que crecen en el jardín. En este cruce de realidades entreteje una reflexión sobre la infancia y su inocencia en un mundo amenazado por la crueldad humana y el cambio climático.
STILLS
WORLD PREMIERE AND FESTIVALS
Sheffield DocFest 2024, Winner of International Short Film Competition Sheffield DocFest, June 2024
Oscars, Academy Awards, USA, Preliminary round selection for Best Short Documentary 2025
Edoc, Quito, Ecuador, August 2024
VIFF, Vancouver, Canada, October 2024
Bolton Film Festival, UK, October, Bolton 2024
FIDBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 2024
MIDBO, Bogota, Colombia, November 2024
Cámara Lúcida, Cuenca, Ecuador, November 2024
MUESTRA Vanguardias… Experimentación y Surrealismo en el Cine Ecuatoriano, Cinemateca Quito, Ecuador, Diciembre 2024
Nepal Human Rights Film Festival, Nepal, December, 2024
Clap, Festival de Cinéma Latino-américain de Paris, March 2025
27th Encounters, South Africa Documentary Film Festival, June 2025
MAIN CHARACTERS
- Seydú Cardoso
- Vladímir Putin
- Thích Nhất Hạnh
- María Fernanda García
- Jair Bolsonaro
CREW
Weaved by José Cardoso / Produced by Adrian Van Wyk & Jiráfica / Analogue photography by María Fernanda García & Seydú Cardoso / Music by Boris Vian / Sound design by Jacobo Martínez / Color by Sebastián Sánchez
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
When my son was born, I understood that it was a time when I could no longer go out and shoot a film. But at the same time, what mattered most to me was my son. Without intending to, I filmed many moments that I shared with him and his mother. In this season of confinement, which became even more isolated with the quarantine of the COVID 19 pandemic.
I stopped meditating in group, a habit I had until this time, and tried to do it alone. I looked for inspiration in teachers who were filmed, and their teachings were recorded in videos that today are posted on YouTube.
I grew up with the habit of watching and listening to the news since I come from a family of journalists. I felt that we were living in a time when the news was getting more intense in several ways and I was moved by it. While the world was announcing itself in agony, I was accompanying the beginning of a new life.
How to keep hope?
How not to become pessimistic about the future?
How to live in the present?
I discovered that my way of traveling during this static period was to return to so much filmed material that I had made without a clear motive. I started with the most recent recordings from my camera and went backward, mostly videos of my son portrayed perceiving the world with wonder. My computer automatically mixed my videos and photos with captures, videos for unclear reasons I felt like downloading from my daily internet surfing. Among this material, I found a video of the Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh.
I became very interested when I realized that I could deeply perceive Thích Nhất Hạnh’s presence in some videos freely circulating on YouTube.
I started selecting fragments that touched me from this material, regardless of the source or context. I began playing with these possibilities without knowing that it would lead me to find a web of connections, some more obvious and others almost unconscious, but, to my perception, equally felt.
This exercise, which besides being an enjoyable activity, began as a self-criticism that I had been feeling for some time about the consumerism of images that are captured and never seen again, from link to link, derived in the message sent to the world by a man who set himself on fire giving his life to be heard. He expressed himself about global warming through Buddhist immolation, an enigmatic, mystical, and extraordinary way of expressing a message that surpasses any act of communication, an action that the press called «suicide». While digging this story I found that he was inspired by Thích Nhất Hạnh. Suddenly Thích Nhất Hạnh died, I knew of it because of a Facebook live notification of his cremation ceremony being streamed.
The exercise ended up working as a reflection of the planetary future that we bequeath to future generations, awareness and consciousness, and the simple and pure way in which a child perceives the world around him, in front of the vortex of information consumed without end. The role of cinema in the face of this question, in a world of constant zapping at our fingertips. The power of images on portable screens that are scaled and rescaled inside us, acquiring new dimensions in deeper layers of the receiver’s unconscious. The light and daily information freely accessible on massive social platforms that in the form of three colors form an image on a screen, enter the body and soul, generating bridges, links, dialogues, layers and deep narratives, going from being superficial images and consumer data, to messages capable of sculpting urgent truths within us.
Going from the superficial to the deep, the film allowed me to experiment with the languages of «Youtube-TV», its spectacularity, the fleetingness of their timed times, the matter of which the audiovisual communicational medium is composed, and to play with its elements, entering into its DNA, the RGB colors that result when zooming in as much as my macro lens allowed me to enter into the vibration of these three colors that at a distance come together on the led screen and its subtitles within the safe zone area, in front of the penetrating power of the word.
LENGUAJES
Spanish, English, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Tupí.
1 MINUTE FRAGMENT
SHORT SINOPSYS
An Amazonian community is threatened by a right-wing Brazilian politician with the destruction of their land, justified by the rising price of resources due to the war in Ukraine. An American environmentalist, after the decisions of the US government that will increase global warming, decides to self-immolate to send a message, inspired by a Buddhist monk uprooted from his homeland years ago, for opposing both sides in the Vietnam War. These world events are broadcast on YouTube under the gaze of the documentary filmmaker, who, as he leaves the screen, meets his 3-year-old son who marvels at the flowers growing in the garden.
SHORTER SINOPSYS
An Amazon ethnocide is justified by war in Ukraine. All streamed on-line under the gaze of the filmmaker, he leaves the screen and meets his 3-year-old son who marvels at the flowers growing in the garden. In this crossing of realities, a reflection on childhood and its innocence in a world threatened by human cruelty and climate change is interwoven.
AMPLIFYING A MESSAGE
In a world where self-immolation may tragically become the last resort to draw attention to the global war machine’s destruction of innocence, «Flores» comprehends the intricate connectivity between the past, present, and future. Through our film, we delve into the profound interplay of historical legacies, contemporary struggles, and the looming uncertainties of tomorrow. We aim to unravel the threads that bind generations together, shedding light on the enduring impact of collective actions and the perpetual quest for justice and humanity amidst turmoil.
Message of Thích Quảng Đức HERE
Message of Thích nữ Nhất Chí Mai HERE
Message of Wynn Allan Bruce HERE
Message of Unknow person in Congo HERE
Message of Aaron Bushnell HERE
Jiráfica 