For video enthusiasts, contemporary art aficionados and ‘culture’ addicts, spring break 2011 in Puerto Vallarta served much more than a round or two (or three) of cold beers on Banderas Bay’s spectacular beaches.
The area’s first international video creation festival: CLOSE UP VALLARTA 2011, headed by Angel Delgado, Yaima Esterlich and Christian Köhl provided a much needed shift towards enhancing Vallarta’s reputation as a cultural destination that offers refreshing alternatives to a typical vacation itinerary.
The festival kicked off to a grand start on Sunday night (April 24) with the colorful opening of renowned Mexican artist, Rubén Ortiz Torres’ exhibition of video art curated by Pilar Pérez at Haus der Kunst proyectos, which can still be seen for another couple of weeks. In addition, Artists Miguel Pérez and Chicharito Magnético created a series of intimate video interventions for the inaugural cocktail party held at Villa Leonarda, where many of the invited artists were staying thanks to the generosity of owners Sergio Toledano and Leslie Fausto.
Monday April 25 marked the start of the formal screenings in Teatro Vallarta, which spanned over two days. From over 200 initial submissions worldwide, 44 videos within five categories were short-listed and projected for audiences.
Winners of each category were announced on Tuesday evening after the final screenings by Radio Guadalajara DJ, Fito and are listed below.
A monetary prize of $1000 USD, donated by Colección LA BALSA and Colección KGJ, was split between two overall winners, both from the student category: Emilio Hernández Cortés (Mexico) for ‘Sin Título’ and Yoel Brito Machado (Cuba) for ‘Fallas del Origen’.
In addition to the competing video entries, work from selected invited artists was also projected in the theatre. Marta María Pérez Bravo, Paola Paz Yee, Davis Birks, Sandra Vivas and Iván Puig were among some of the artists especially invited to share their work.
Indeed, the notable success of CLOSE UP VALLARTA 2011, reflected by a healthy attendance at both free events as well as ticketed screenings, could well be attributed to the exceptional quality and notoriety of the festival’s invited artists, academics and critics, many of whom contributed videos as well as delivered free seminars.
Mariana Botey, Rubén Ortiz Torres, Juan Antonio Molino and Víctor Martínez were amongst the selection of prominent guest speakers who held conferences in the Centro Cultural Cuale, alongside Vallarta’s very own Carlos Michel Meza, Hugo Hernández, Louis Venosta, Emmanuel Rangel Valenzuela and Issac Ortiz.
Prizes:
Overall Winners
Emilio Hernández Cortés (Mexico) - ‘Sin Título’
Yoel Brito Machado (Cuba) - ‘Fallas del Origen’
Category Winners
Experimental Shorts
Carlos Matiella (Mexico) - ‘Clean is Good’
Video Performance
Luis Alfonso Almendra Villagran (Chile) – ‘Sismo 3’
Students
Rocío Pavón Rodríguez (Cuba) – ‘Utopía’
Dance Video (joint winners)
Sharon A. Toribio Pelayo (Mexico) – ‘Tiempos del Sueño’
Paola de la Concha Zindel (Mexico) – ‘Intevalo’
Video Art
Jorge Catoni (Chile) – ‘Hoy Juega Chile’
Commendations
Marcos Barbosa (Mexico) – ‘Morphe’
Luz Herrera & Ariel Sainz – ‘Cíclica’
Pedro Alejandro Bootz (Argentina) – ‘Retrospección a la camera y a uno’
Deborah Buley is a writer, translator and literature teacher. With her husband, Christian Köhl, she helps run Haus der Kunst proyectos, a contemporary art gallery in Puerto Vallarta’s Old Town.
www.hausderkunstmexico.com
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