Kaori Oda's Cenote debuts in the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020

Next week in the Bright Futures main program, our Kaori Oda’s Mexican documentary premieres at Rotterdam. The film was also co-produced by our Marta Hernaiz-Pidal.

Synopsis:

In Northern Yucatan, Mexico, natural sinkholes called 'cenotes' constituted the sole water source for Mayans not living near a river or lake. Some cenotes were used for ritual sacrifices, and the Mayans believed that these holy springs connected this world to the afterlife.

The past and present of those living around the cenotes coalesce in this mysterious place. Long-lost memories echo in hallucinatory turquoise underwater footage, an entrancing game of light and dark. Swimming in these sinkholes, director Oda Kaori encounters intriguing shapes and beams of light, the water heaves, drops fall like razor blades.

Oda, who studied under Béla Tarr in Sarajevo, previously made Aragane, which was shot in a Bosnian coal mine. For Cenote, she used Super-8 film and a bubbling water soundscape. A captivating form for her impressions of a place where, as a ghostly voiceover explains, nothing is forgotten.

SCREENING DATES & TIMES

Original title Ts'onot

Filmmaker Oda Kaori

Premiere International premiere

Country Japan, Mexico

Year2019

Length 75’

LanguageSpanish

Producer Oda Kaori, Echigoya Takashi, Jorge Bolado, Marta Hernaiz

Production Company FieldRain, Aichi Arts Center, cinevendaval

Sales Article Films

Writer

Oda Kaori

Cinematography Oda Kaori

Editor Oda Kaori, Takeshi Hata

Production Design Marta Hernaiz

Sound Design Oda Kaori

Cast

voices of: Araceli del Rosario Chulim Tun, Juan de la Rosa Mibmay

Website https://fieldrain.net

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<セノーテプロジェクト>

​メキシコユカタン半島北部に点在するセノーテと呼ばれる泉。
樹の根が這う水中洞窟、その縦穴の上から太陽の光が水の中に降る。

生贄として捧げられた者たち。

​脈絡のない断片的な記憶の連なり。

それ自体がもつ直感と予見性。

現地リサーチ(撮影)からインスピレーションをえて制作される映画、映像インスタレーション、ペインティングを横断するプロジェクト

-第1回目リサーチ撮影 2017年5月〜6月 実施

-第2回目リサーチ撮影 2018年5月〜6月 実施

-第3回目リサーチ撮影 2018年11月 実施

​-2019年1月~3月 長編映画作品『セノーテ』編集
-2019年4月      長編映画作品『セノーテ』完成

 
2019年6月16日 愛知県美術館・愛知芸術文化センターにて『セノーテ』初上映

2019年10月 山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭アジア千波万波部門にて上映

2020年1月 ロッテルダム国際映画祭にて上映

2020年2月 恵比寿映像祭にて上映

Kaori Oda's feature doc CENOTE to screen at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020

Kaori’s Oda’s intriguing documentary set in Mexico has been selected to screen in the Bright Future Main Programme.

Synopsis:

In Northern Yucatan, Mexico, natural sinkholes called 'cenotes' constituted the sole water source for Mayans not living near a river or lake. Some cenotes were used for ritual sacrifices, and the Mayans believed that these holy springs connected this world to the afterlife.

The past and present of those living around the cenotes coalesce in this mysterious place. Long-lost memories echo in hallucinatory turquoise underwater footage, an entrancing game of light and dark. Swimming in these sinkholes, director Oda Kaori encounters intriguing shapes and beams of light, the water heaves, drops fall like razor blades.

Oda, who studied under Béla Tarr in Sarajevo, previously made Aragane, which was shot in a Bosnian coal mine. For Cenote, she used Super-8 film and a bubbling water soundscape. A captivating form for her impressions of a place where, as a ghostly voiceover explains, nothing is forgotten.

Link to Film Listing in Rotterdam: https://iffr.com/en/2020/films/cenote