Chef Film Fest. Shorts to look forward
Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Format: In-person
Location: Plazoleta MAMM
Free admission
Schedule
7:00 p.m. Live podcast with Aleja y la Grua.
7:30 p.m. Short film screening:
The story follows a teenager who faces the overwhelming weight of a life he did not choose, portrayed in a series of vignettes that capture key moments of his internal struggle. Each scene reveals the emotional wear of a young person who feels drowned by the expectations that society and his family have placed upon him. The pressure of being the “future” of a country that does not understand him and the hope of a family that carries its broken dreams on his shoulders manifests in every look, every word, every silence.
Throughout these vignettes, the protagonist navigates between confusion and despair, while trying to fulfill what is expected of him without completely losing himself. The images reflect the tension of living a life full of demands, where the simple act of waking up is a battle against an imposed destiny. Accompanied by a poem that verbalizes his deep pain, the teenager reveals that, although he did not choose to be born, he must now carry the weight of existing, confronting the voices that demand more than he feels he can offer.
About JASZ
Juan Andres Suarez, known as JASZ, Co-Founder of RINO FILMS. He is a Colombian director who stands out for his ability to transform the everyday into visually striking experiences. With a dynamic and experimental style, he strives to leave his mark on the industry through music videos and advertising campaigns.
In addition to his work on visual projects, JASZ has his own podcast, STAMPS. Through this space, he seeks to inspire other creatives, break down the egos of the industry, and foster creative conversations. His goal is to build an authentic community within the creative field, educating from his personal experience and showing the reality of the sector.
JASZ seeks to make an impact beyond the screen, offering an honest and direct perspective on the industry.
In a world where cruelty is presented to us everywhere and in so many forms, this short film explores the thin line between hopelessness and the beauty found at the end of days. Through the eyes of young people facing complex realities — a drag queen, a migrant, a group of students — the story shows how the simple fact of crossing paths with someone else can, for a moment, take away the harshness of life and immerse us in the beauty of the encounter.
About Matt Builes
Matt Builes is a cinematographer originally from Medellín, Colombia, whose pursuit of the image is characterized by his meticulousness and attention to detail. His creative process transcends mere work on set, always beginning with a visualization exercise where he conceives each scene with precision before its materialization during filming.
Gifted with the ability to connect with any story, he brings his own style to each project while remaining faithful to the narrative intention of each one. For him, the cinematic art is a tool in service of the narrative. His versatility allows him to adapt to various genres, tones, and production methods, making use of new technologies to do so.
His work is distinguished by the richness of colors and natural tones that bring authenticity to each scene, focusing on highlighting the emotions of the characters and the complexities of the plot. For Matt, being a cinematographer means the possibility of creating realities through light, textures, and spaces, and this is his greatest source of enjoyment.
Rurality is a word framed by a lack of future, but from the Colombian Pacific, voices rise like high tides to break free from that mindset.
About Más Juan
A person who believes that serving others will always be the path. Determined to create circuits that strengthen Cali’s creative industry. Day by day, he interprets realities to frame them in the craft of Cinematography. Co-Founder of La Ruta Studio.
“Believe and create” is the phrase that accompanies him every day.
In a house where time seems to have stopped, Sam, a 13-year-old boy, lives trapped in an oppressive and dehumanized environment. His mother, distant and immersed in incomprehensible rituals, drifts through the days like a distant echo. As Sam wanders through the shadows of his home, he discovers how his innocence has been snatched away by an indifferent world. As reality cracks and distorts, an animal instinct awakens in Sam, a visceral force that emerges from the deepest place, defying the environment that imprisons him. In the midst of this chaos, the mother reveals a cruel truth: in a world without protection, ideas and innocence are devoured. The short film becomes a dark meditation on the fragility of the mind, the brutality of the everyday, and the awakening of the wild, like an inescapable echo that persists in the depths of silence.
About Camila Calle
Mccalle is a Colombian director and photographer based in the city of Medellín. Her authentic passion centers on telling stories through human portraits — those who find their essence in chaos and in those incidental sprouts. These elements, far from being random, converge in a tireless search for answers, exploring the very limits of identity. Her creative process resembles a dance of emerging narratives, woven from intuition, defying pre-established norms and exploring clandestine routes until forging enigmatic narratives and captivating atmospheres.
Among her works are several short films and music videos for artists such as FEID, Juanes, The Virginia Valley, among others. Additionally, the Colombian director has collaborated with brands such as Nike, Chevignon, Americanino, and Punto Blanco.
With a guided meditation that promises spiritual enlightenment as a soundtrack, we follow the story of Gracia, a 16-year-old teenager, and her father, Antonio, a frustrated man, who are immersed in a cycle of constant and repetitive violence. Lugar Comun presents scenes that illustrate what it is like to grow up in a dysfunctional family with an abusive, substance-addicted father, incapable of parenting due to his own voids, focusing on the complex and harmful relationship between father and daughter, and how she clings to the strong connection they share during her father’s moments of sobriety, when he can also be loving and affectionate. The moments of tenderness, warmth, and complicity are frequently interrupted by violence, abandonment, fear, and betrayal, on both sides, creating an unstable and unpredictable environment where indelible traumas abound that will mark their lives forever, highlighting that the future depends on the experiences we all live through in our youth. We intersperse these scenes with dreamlike images of the two characters in different emotional spaces. The story proposes a raw and intimate journey that explores the emotional challenges of youth and Gracia’s awakening identity, while Antonio represents the cycles that were never broken, generational traumas, and what Gracia’s future could be if she does not change her reality.
Lugar Comun travels between reality and the dreamlike to tell the story of a dysfunctional relationship between a father and his teenage daughter and their attempts to break the cycles of abuse.
About Gina Medina
Gina Medina is a Colombian-Spanish director and actress. With her captivating perspective, she adds an intriguing twist to narratives, inviting viewers to explore new dimensions. The settings she creates evoke depth and authenticity, effortlessly drawing the audience into her universe. Through her acting experience, she fosters genuine connections with her fellow actors, which translates into performances imbued with sincerity and depth. Each of her projects carries a distinctive aesthetic and her authentic signature.
Flores de Medianoche is a poem that uses the body and images to reflect on pain and the meaning of the present.
About Cuartas
Anderson Cuartas, Director and Producer
My relationship with image comes from the interest in creating a record of what has been lived; the magic of capturing a moment is something that has always captivated me.
Along the way, I have worked producing and directing commercial, narrative and music video pieces for brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Netflix, Seven Seven and several music artists.
A young man, trapped in routine, seeks escape in vices and photography, but his emptiness persists.
About José Peña
José Peña, known as Dexter, is an audiovisual creator with 8 years of experience. He studied radio and television direction and production, and has participated in shoots for films, music videos, fashion films and brands. Passionate about vintage aesthetics, he stands out for his use of analog cameras and his editing skills, especially in montage.
A 34-year-old woman begins to have the feeling that time is working against her. With the perception of counting down in reverse and trapped in an unplanned future, she faces a silent crisis in which she begins searching her home for evidence that the intangible justifies her present: how much time has passed since the exact moment she stopped being a girl?
In this journey where everything seemed intact, she finds answers with which she tries to fill inexplicable blank spaces in her memory, while struggling to understand her reality and reconcile with the fact of having lost them.
About Maria Zarate
Maria Zarate is a Colombian director and photographer whose passion centers on immortalizing moments through film and photography. For her, every image tells a story, and every story has the potential to change a perspective, to generate an emotional impact that transcends the immediate. Zarate is a firm believer in the connection between music and images, believing that together they can convey a powerful message.
Her style is characterized by meticulous attention to aesthetics, constantly seeking hidden beauty in the everyday. As a director, she not only captures what happens in front of the camera but immerses herself in the emotional layers behind each scene, in order to reflect the purest essence of the moment.
She explores and seeks to offer the viewer a sensory and emotive experience. Her constant pursuit is to capture vulnerability and beauty in their most authentic forms.
8:00 p.m. Conversadero with JASZ, Matt Builes, Más Juan, Camila Calle, Gina Medina, Cuartas, José Peña and Cuartas, creators of the short films, joined by Aleja y la Grua.
9:00 p.m. Music and DJ.