Mark Camardone, winner of the VOC – Omnium Short Film Festival Award for “Traca”, gets a closer vision of the future in cinema every day. In addition, he has definitely joined the Ull Nu team
As always, congratulations on the award first.
Thank you very much. Well, it's a short film that was shot a year ago, and after screening it at different festivals, we were selected at VOC and we ended up winning the Audience Award for Best Short Novel, so we're happy.
What is “Traka” about?
Four friends go out to celebrate Sant Joan, there is a semi-passionate affair, sexual in any case, and it causes a situation that escalates throughout the night until it ends in violence, due to a somewhat repressed homosexuality.
Role.
Yes, it's a difficult topic, but because we wanted to talk about how today's gay teens, or those who move at least a little bit on the margins, those who don't follow established patterns, continue to be hidden and demonized. If anything, they receive little understanding.
It should be over.
You will see. These situations keep happening that are not typical of a romantic situation.
You have to put it on the table.
It's a short film made of anger, and it's a short film that starts from the anger that I feel for myself, as a gay person, or as someone on the margins of what heteropatriarchy is. We never stop being people who were somehow robbed of our adolescence. We were not able to experience adolescence that other young people were able to experience. As part of this thinking, we came up with a short film that encourages us to think about this kind of systemic violence. And I also really think, I'm a big proponent, of creating outrage, through exaggeration if you like, to give insight into the real problems.
Some, we see all the time in the news, unfortunately.
There is also not extreme violence, yes, but there is verbal violence, and physical violence.
We are animals too!
We cannot fool ourselves, this violence still exists, whether towards minorities, towards women or towards racist people. From art, from cinema, we must put it in the spotlight, and provoke thought and discussion.
A good platform, audio-visual, to reach a lot of people. Better than a philosophical essay, right?
Cinema and art in general. But yes, I understand the immediacy of audiovisual material, in this case, a twelve-minute short film, which was shown in a hundred theaters thanks to the festival. It's a convenient way to get there. A book or article is also a good way to convey an idea, of course, but cinema offers this more profound and immediate way.
What are you up to, aside?
This year, co-director of the All Nu Festival in Andorra, with Hector Mas. I am, of course, very happy to be preparing for this year's edition. I take the opportunity to comment and invite everyone to attend, because it will be a very good edition. I'm also in post-production on my latest short film.
The naked eye is at the door.
From May 8 to 12, yes. There will be performances, concerts, talks… many, many activities.
It is very well established and very strong.
Yes. Hector made it grow, and wrapped it up into a very complete festival, with the importance it deserved.
From a very small base… even though you are less and less.
Yes, correct? But we're all young, yes, so it offers a more modern, more cultural point of view, we don't bring anything mainstream, we leave a lot of space for young artists, also from other disciplines because we create installations and concerts… but it's all for the show audience, for families too, but it's Made from a young man's perspective.
Am I Kurt?
We photographed it half a year ago in the Alt Urgell area. This is the final work for the master's degree in the direction of ESCAC. I'll give it to you, actually.
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