“Uruguay has a lot of audacity and authenticity” to produce in the audiovisual sector

The current advisor of two of the most important short film festivals in the world, Regard Saguenay International Short Film Festival (Saguenay, Canada) and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (Clermont-Ferrand, France), Marie-Élaine Riou, visited Montevideo to participate as jury and advisor of the Festival de cine nuevo Detour, where she had the opportunity to see about 50 short films by Uruguayan artists.

The Canadian, with vast experience in programming and marketing short films worldwide, arrived in the country at the invitation of Uruguay XXI as part of the ongoing work that the agency has carried out to collaborate with the internationalization of Uruguayan audiovisual production.

“I saw a lot of audacity and freedom of expression, a lot of authenticity,” she said when asked about the impression left on her by the short films she saw over five days at Detour. This was the eleventh edition of this platform that has as its principle the incentive and exhibition of audiovisual cinema by emerging Uruguayan artists.

“There is no fear of saying something, you can see that there is confidence, I did not feel self-censorship, they are authentic, you feel that they do it out of the desire to express themselves,” she added.

The expert saw in the short films a lot of nostalgia but also openness towards what is happening in the world. She praised the creativity, audacity, and ability to experiment with the young Uruguayan filmmakers who participated in the festival.

“There are good actors and directors. The scripts are well constructed, and the environment where the stories are recorded is perfect and interesting; I also like how they use music in the narrative,” he said.

“Mala facha” was the best short film of the festival.

The winner of the competition for the best short film in the official section of the Detour festival was “Mala facha” by director Ilén Juambeltz. This award consists of a trip to France to participate in the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in February 2024, one of the world’s most important of its kind. The trip will allow the director to present her short film and meet professionals worldwide.

Riou was part of the jury and one responsible for choosing the short film selected for this leading award. “We liked it very much at the level of direction of actors, all three very good. The tension that he managed to make with his script and actors we loved. Fear is a theme seen in short films, and she deals with it in a way that leaves us thoughtful. She handles the action well and tells it well in a few minutes, which makes a good short film,” she commented about the production.

Asked about the recommendations she would give filmmakers to sell their short films abroad, Riou said that it is only sometimes necessary to look to the big festivals like Cannes, which are so big that they don’t allow productions to show off so much. For the distribution strategy, he suggested resorting to smaller platforms: “They should take the time to see other short films and cinema to know how the selection is made at festivals and to see their different profiles; there are some more oriented to experimental, others are for children’s shorts, others are more social or comedy or LGTB+,” she added.