II Premios María Luz Morales
A Academia Galega do Audiovisual entregou o 5 de xuño na Deputación da Lugo os premios María Luz Morales, que promoven a investigación científica no ámbito audiovisual. Na súa segunda edición, os premios recompensaron cun galardón e 1.200 euros dous videoensaios e dous ensaios escritos asinados por dúas novísimas investigadoras e máis dous investigadores galegos, nunha iniciativa pioneira que conta coa participación das catro deputacións e na que este ano se destacaron, tamén, outros tres traballos con cadanseu accésit. Tres dos traballos elixidos polo xurado dos II Premios María Luz Morales cuestionan o papel da muller no cinema e na televisión, dende distintas perspectivas.
Lucía Estévez (Vigo, 1994) gañou o premio ao mellor Videoensaio do Audiovisual Galego con Muller Personaxe, no que se serve dunha entrevista coa súa nai para fiar unha reflexión sobre o rostro feminino na pantalla galega. O xurado destaca a orixinalidade e o arriscado da proposta deste videoensaio, que combina unha posición cultural autoconsciente coa imaxe da muller no audiovisual galego. Tamén valora a imbricación do persoal cos rostros femininos da ficción galega actual, nun esforzo por analizar a través das imaxes o papel da muller en todo tipo de formatos do noso audiovisual.
Denisse Lozano (Vilalba, 1991) fíxose -por segundo ano consecutivo- co premio ao mellor Videoensaio do Audiovisual Internacional con Núas. Evolución da estética e o significado no nú feminino, no que aborda o uso do nu feminino mergullándose na súa orixe e evolución, dende os inicios do cinema ata os nosos días. Así mesmo, pretende reflexionar sobre unha tendencia actual a romper cos antigos estereotipos e formas, reivindicando o empoderamento da muller a través da exhibición do seu corpo espido. O xurado destaca o interese histórico deste videoensaio e a habilidade á hora de recuperar imaxes dende os inicios do cinema, confrontándoas co seu contexto histórico. Tamén valora unha factura visual excelente e a precision na escolla e na montaxe dos planos, así como a elección dunha temática que se une ao cuestionamento do papel da muller no cinema, que este ano 2018 foi un elemento crítico importante no ámbito cinematográfico.
Marcos Nine (Illa de Arousa, 1977) conquistou o premio ao mellor Ensaio Escrito Audiovisual Galego con A Película de Autos, que repasa un dos filmes máis singulares do cinema galego non só polo seu contido senon moi especialmente pola súa historia, Al nasr altair. O filme foi obxeto de xuizo durante o franquismo e a sentencia que xurdiu dese xuizo é única en Galicia. O xurado destaca a calidade e a orixinalidade da proposta ensaística, cun relato no que as imaxes xogan un papel principal, ideal para a súa lectura en rede. O xurado tamén valora o rescate da historia dun filme moi pouco coñecido e da figura de José Ernesto Díaz-Noriega, un cineasta amador que foi escola para moitos autores actuais.
Fernando Redondo (Ames, 1971) gañou o premio ao mellor Ensaio Escrito Audiovisual Internacional con Latexos de Saudade no Cinema, que propón unha análise de senllos filmes moi diferentes entre si, Dublineses (John Huston, 1987) e A cidade das estrelas. La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016), pero que comparten unha mesma expresión cinematográfica da saudade. O xurado destaca a calidade da escrita e o rigor análitico sobre a posta en escena e da banda de son de dúas películas tan dispares -cronolóxica e estilisticamente- como fondamente vinculadas pola dor e a melancolía. Cabe sinalar tamén a capacidade do autor para poñer en contacto o seu discurso con cuestións artísticas e filosóficas que van máis alá do cine, partindo para iso, ademáis, de importantes referencias da cultura galega.
O xurado desta segunda edición dos Premios María Luz Morales quixo recoñecer, tamén, con tres accésit o labor doutras dúas investigadoras e máis dun investigador galegos nacidos despois dos noventa.
Brais Romero (Ferrol, 1990) recibiu -ao igual que xa fixera o ano pasado- un accésit ao premio ao mellor Ensaio Escrito Audiovisual Galego por De Vikingland a Ingen Ko Pa Isen: análise dunha correspondencia involuntaria. O xurado salientou “o rigor e a calidade á hora de comparar de xeito moi preciso e completo dúas películas do Novo Cinema Galego que comparten unha ollada contemporánea sobre un tema clave na nosa cinematografía como é o cinema da emigración”.
Éire García (Nigrán, 1991) non puido recoller en persoa accésit ao premio ao mellor Videoensaio do Audiovisual Internacional por Para as interesadas nas películas de mulleres, no que o xurado destaca que “brinda a oportunidade de analizar a crítica cinematográfica dende un punto de vista de xénero, cunha aposta visual subxectiva e suxerente sobre o rol das mulleres na cinematografía internacional”.
Tampouco recolleu o seu accésit ao premio a mellor Ensaio Escrito Audiovisual Internacional a coruñesa afincada en Londres Sabela Rei (1994). Co seu Rostros do cinema europeo, unha aproximación á representación da crise conseguiu, en opinión do xurado, “extraer un rechamante rendemento significante da análise dos rostros dos actores-actrices/personaxes (a partir dos presupostos teóricos establecidos no seu día, entre outros, por Jacques Aumont o Pascal Bonitzer) nalgunhas destacadas películas centradas no impacto da durísima crise económica que aínda nos afecta”.
O acto de entrega contou coa participación da xornalista María Yáñez, en representación do xurado -do que tamén formaron parte José Luís Castro de Paz (profesor da USC) e Marta Pérez Pereiro (profesora da USC)- e mais de Goretti Sanmartín Rei, vicepresidenta e deputada de Normalización Lingüística e de Cultura da Deputación de A Coruña; Darío Campos, presidente da Deputación de Lugo; Manuel Doval, deputado de Cultura da Deputación de Ourense; Xosé Leal, deputado de Cultura e Normalización Lingüística da Deputación de Pontevedra; e Carlos Ares, presidente da Academia Galega do Audiovisual.
María Luz Morales (A Coruña, 1889 – Barcelona 1980). Escritora e xornalista, especializada na crítica de cine e de teatro, dirixiu o xornal La Vanguardia durante a Guerra Civil, sendo a primeira muller na historia de España en ser directora dun diario estatal. Foi activista feminista, republicana e galeguista represaliada polo franquismo, e autora dunha extensa obra literaria. Considerada unha referencia da incorporación da muller a actividade xornalística e intelectual na España do século XX. Mantivo a actividade xornalística ata os 91 anos de idade.
My tech travel setup
MacBook Pro
Robert Capa, a famous photojournalist once said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” It’s not just about zooming in with your lens, either. It’s about getting physically closer to people and getting to know them better. It’s also about spending a little time with a stranger before taking their photo. That helps build the trust and comfort that’ll come through in your pictures. Walk up to your subject with a simple wave and a smile to help communicate that you mean no harm.
Ask permission to take a photo if they speak the same language as you. If you don’t share a language, try learning some basic phrases ahead of time, gesture at your camera and ask through expression. Of course if someone doesn’t want their picture taken, it’s imperative to respect their wishes and move on — people are always more important than photographs. National Geographic writes that “making great pictures is primarily a mental process.” What makes you want to photograph the person or place? How might you describe it to a friend, and what adjectives would you use? Are there details you can focus on that tell a story?
iPad/iPhone
Maybe it’s a dry, arid desert, captured by focusing on the patterns of cracked earth. Or a prairie that’s photographed with the horizon at the bottom of the frame, to help create a sense of the open sky and tranquility. Or maybe it’s the story of a deft artisan, fingernails covered in wet clay as she molds a pot. When you’re on the road it can be tough to eat right and make sure you get all the right nutrients. I started taking daily supplements of Multi-Vitamin, Fish Oil capsules and Vitamin D and it helps a lot. Especially the Vitamin D since I don’t get to see the sun a lot during the winter in Sweden.
Sennheiser HD-25 Headphones
It’s difficult to recreate the grandeur of a vast landscape in the confines of a picture frame. But one way to add a sense of depth to your photos is to compose them with objects in the foreground that support the scene. It can be as simple as a winding road through a national park, or some rocks to show off the local geology.
If you’re taking photos of people during normal daylight hours, a quick way to get more flattering light is to move the person out of direct sunlight. The light is much “softer” and doesn’t cast stark, unflattering shadows across their facial features. Even better, have someone stand next to an open door or window as the single source of light.
The new brand identity
I stumbled upon the concept of margin while reading a post by Michael Hyatt, which led me to design my ideal week. Richard Swenson, M.D. (who wrote the book: Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives) describes margin like this:
Margin is the space between our load and our limits. It is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between breathing freely and suffocating.
Last year I wrote about why booking too far in advance can be dangerous for your business, and this concept of margin so eloquently captures what I had recognized had been my problem: I was so booked up with clients that I wasn’t leaving any margin for error, growth, planning, or reflection. I wasn’t really growing my business in a sustainable way; I was just booking one client after the next. At the time this seemed like a good thing: doesn’t growing my business mean getting more clients?
A long redesign.
What if instead of booking up to 100% capacity (which more often than not ends up being closer to 120%), we only booked up to an 80% capacity?
What if we left more room for growth (personal or professional) and stopped being one with “busy-ness”?
I spent nearly a year turning down every new project (and even getting rid of old ones) so that I could reduce my workload, build in more margin, and create what is now Digital Strategy School. It takes time to build margin into your schedule.Write a book. Create a program. Update your contracts and proposals (which has been on your to-do list for how long..?) Spend more time with your family. Go above and beyond for a client. Learn something new. Actually follow through on the things that have been nagging at you for a long time.
When you design your ideal week, you start to see that the time you think you have is often not in alignment with how much time you actually have.
After designing my ideal week, I had a much clearer idea of how to create a framework for my week that would empower me to feel more focused by theming days of the week, and even parts of the day. SO simple, I know. Some of you have been doing this for ages and you’re already a pro, and some of you who saw my schedule said “woah, that’s so rigid, I need more flexibility!”
Structure enables flexibility.
If you’re not sure how much time you are actually spending on various tasks, use a tool like Rescue Time (their free version is excellent!) which runs in the background and tracks where your time is being spent. It can even send you weekly reports so you know exactly how much time you wasted on Facebook, or spent in your email inbox! You can assign different websites or programs/applications on a scale of very distracting to very productive, so you can see at a glance things like: which days of the week you’re most productive, which times of the day you’re most productive, and the sites on which you’re spending the most distracting time. Turns out I’m consistently “in the zone” around 3pm in the afternoon; so instead of trying to tackle highly creative work first thing in the morning (when my brain is barely functioning), I handle it in the afternoon, when I know I’m at my peak!
Creating more margin has been game-changing for my business.
What would be possible for yours?
Some amazing buildings
Minimalism and geometric.
When you are alone for days or weeks at a time, you eventually become drawn to people. Talking to randos is the norm. I’ll never forget the conversation with the aquarium fisherman, forest ranger, and women at the Thai market. It’s refreshing to compare notes on life with people from vastly different backgrounds.
When you meet fellow travelers, you’ll find they are also filled with a similar sense of adventure and curiosity about the world. Five days of friendship on the road is like five months of friendship at home. It’s the experiences that bond you together, not the place. A rule I followed that worked well: be the first to initiate conversation. I met some incredible people by simply being the first to talk.
Long term travel is different than a luxury vacation. The point is to see the world, not stay in a 5-star hotel. During the trip, I stayed on a strict budget. The goal was to spend no more than $33 per day on accommodations. After a year, I was able to spend only $26.15 per day by booking through HostelWorld and Airbnb. When I wanted to meet people, I’d stay in a shared room at a hostel. When I wanted to be alone, I’d book a private room with Airbnb.
Take the cost of your rent or mortgage + food per month and divide it by 30. This is how much it costs per day to live at home. You will find that it’s possible to travel the world for roughly the same amount. Or, if you live in an expensive city like San Francisco, far less.
An universal language.
I was surprised how many people spoke English (apparently 1.8 billion people worldwide). Places where English was less prevalent, I made an effort to learn a handful of words and phrases in the local language. Even though it’s passable, I do desire to learn another language fluently. You can only take the conversation so far when all you can say is: “¿Esto contiene gluten?”
It’s possible to communicate a lot without saying a word. For instance, I left my phone at a restaurant in Chile. I pointed at the table where I was sitting, put my hand to my ear like a phone, then shrugged — 2 minutes later, my phone had been retrieved.