Last week we skipped down to Documenta Madrid 13, the Madrid Documentary Film Festival, held in the atmospheric Matadero, a converted brick slaughterhouse-turned-events space.
Entries for the short film competition came from all over the world, and were shown over the course of the week in blocks of five, for the public to vote for their favourite.
On the Wednesday night the entries came from Poland, the US, Switzerland, Iran and France. Two of the directors were there to discuss their work, which coincidentally had been my favourite two films of the evening.
Gwizdek (The Whistle), by the Polish director Grzegorz Zariczny, was my favourite film of the whole festival, and went on to win the jury's first prize. Just 17 minutes long, it took 28 days of filming to produce. It told the story of a disillusioned Polish football referee in the lowest league, desperate for a change in his small town life. Beautifully observed, funny and touching, at times it was hard to believe it was a documentary and not scripted.
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| Zariczny after the screening (Photo sourced here) |
On the Friday night we went along early for drinks and a pizza in Matadero's shabby-chic, exposed brick bar, Cantina. Cool yet relaxed, Cantina was a new find for me, and I'll definitely be back.
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Friday's entries came from Israel, Ireland, Italy, Poland and China. Again, two of the directors were there to answer questions after the screening, including the director of the second-prize winner, La Strada di Raffael (Raffael's Way).
Telling the story of two young boys who sell cigarettes on the streets of Naples, it was so intimately filmed that, again, it was easy to forget that it was a documentary and not a carefully planned drama.
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| Friday's directors after the screening (Photo sourced here) |
The bar stayed open late for the judges and public to weigh up their votes over a few glasses of wine. It would have been rude not to.
