TERRITORIO
Ecuador, 2017
Spanish with English subtitles | 66 min 
Director: Alexandra Cuesta

Friday, August 24th 
3:15pm @ The Cinematheque
Monday, August 27th
7pm @ The Cinematheque

In 1927, French poet Henri Michaux traveled across Ecuador and jotted down his impressions in a diary as he discovered the country’s landscapes and populations. With Territorio, Alexandra Cuesta completed this fragmented account starting from the ocean, across the mountains and into the jungle. In stationary sequence shots, the swaying horizon, shadows and reflections recreate shot/reverse shot effects. Each frame is composed with great subtlety, creating surprises for the viewer to explore while allowing plenty of scope for what happens off camera. The director herself also belongs to this off camera space, which plays an essential part in the film. CG – FIDMARSEILLE

“A mesmerizing, cinematic contemplation of the land, faces, and soundscapes of Ecuador.” An extraordinary experience.

En 1927, el poeta francés Henri Michaux viajó por Ecuador y anotó sus impresiones en un diario mientras descubría los paisajes y las poblaciones del país. Con Territorio, Alexandra Cuesta completó esta historia fragmentada, a partir del océano, a través de las montañas y dentro de la selva. Cada fotograma está compuesto con gran sutileza, creando sorpresas para que el espectador explore, incluso fuera de la cámara.

Alexandra’s Filmography: Territorio (2016), Despedida (2013), Piensa en mí (2009), Beirut 2.14.05 (2008), Recordando El Ayer (2007)

Alexandra Cuesta (b.1980 – Cuenca, Ecuador) is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Upstate New York. Her work combines experimental film traditions and visual anthropology, along with an emphasis on formal considerations of 16mm film, her primary medium. Her images emerge from the public sphere and often comment on displacement and cultural diaspora. Moving away from traditional cinematic approaches her films construct and generate meaning through an associative and improvisational process. Her films have screened at the New York Film Festival, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Viennale International Film Festival, Centre Pompidou, Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museum of Contemporary Art, Habana Film Festival, BFI Film Festival, Queens Museum of Art, International Film Festival Oberhausen, among others. She has an MFA in Film and Video from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design. She teaches in the Cinema Department at Binghamton University – State University of New York.

Preceded by The Catch 

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