Pez volador

Synopsis

For thousands of centuries and in different cultures, flying fish have been understood as symbols of searching, freedom, and achievement. They are unique animals that swim and fly, that delve deep into the waters and pass through the air, reflecting the possibility of hope. Their transit has been understood as an observational journey through nature, but little by little the impact of human beings and technology is increasing, transforming and altering the environment…

Director’s Notes

With Flying Fish, the fifth work from my series Dystopias arrived, I wanted to reflect, using an open narrative, on one of the most relevant issues of our contemporaneity: environmental problems and the serious situation in which the planet finds itself. What threatens the most immediate present is not only the effects of climate change, but also the high degree of pollution and the consequent disappearance of thousands of species, including human beings.

With the rise of oil and plastic as key resources of industrialized societies at the end of the 19th century and the establishment of capitalist and neoliberal economies, characterized fundamentally by extreme consumption and the obsession with the growth of economic revenue, our planet entered the Anthropocene era. Since then, the world has been transforming at a speed never experienced by living things. Faced with this biodiversity crisis, of the eight million species that currently exist on the planet –including animals, insects, and plants– one million are threatened with extinction.

Over the centuries, the flying fish has been seen as a magical totem by various cultures. Its quality of moving through the different elements of water and air, both flying and swimming, has been understood as a symbol of communication, challenge, and the connection between emotions and the subconscious. It thus becomes a symbol of overcoming one’s own obstacles. The flying fish is therefore a reflection of effort and hope. Through the gaze of this animal, I have wanted to portray a space recognizable by the spectators but portraying it, like the other works of Dystopias arrived, as a delocalized place. It is a reality that, as a reflection of our globalized world, could be occurring in different geographical areas at the same time, causing a repetitive and homogeneous pattern of behavior with consequences that are difficult to repair. Using an allegorical language, in which I try to open images to the symbolic interpretation of different cultures, I have tried to formulate a whole series of issues and questions that connect with our current ways of interacting with nature and technology.

Downloadable materials

Download poster, dossier, stills, trailer, synopsis and film data sheet.

Awards

• “Canary Shorts” Award for Best Canarian Short Film
  9th Tenerife Shorts, Tenerife, 2022
• International Distribution in the catalogue Canarias en Corto
  16th Distribution Catalogue “Canarias en Corto 2022”

Official Selections

International

• 63rd Festival dei Popoli, HABITAT section, Italy, 2022
• 25th CinemAmbiente, International Short Film Competition, Italy, 2022
• 22nd BIFED – Bozcaada International Festival of Ecological Documentary. Official Selection for the Panorama, Turkey, 2022
• 21st Innsbruck Nature Film Festival, Short Films Selection, Austria, 2022
• 3rd Iceland Documentary Film Festival – IceDocs, Lighthouse Section, Iceland, 2022
• 10th Okolišni filmski festival, Croatia, 2023

National

• 25th Málaga Film Festival, Documentary Short Film Official Selection, Málaga, 2022
• 19th Documenta Madrid, National Competition, Madrid, 2022
• 52nd Alcances – Festival de Cine Documental de Cádiz, Cádiz, 2022
• 51st ALCINE, Certamen Nacional de Cortometrajes, Alcalá de Henares, 2022
• 21st Festival Internacional de Cine de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canarias Cinema section, Las Palmas, 2022
• 24th Abycine, Abycine Cortos section, Albacete, 2022
• 12th Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote, Cruce de caminos: Filmmakers from the Canaries Section [out of competition], Lanzarote, 2022
• 44th Semana de Cine de Lugo, Documentary Section, Lugo, 2022
• 24th Festival Internacional de Cine Medioambiental de Canarias, Ecoislas section, 2022
• 9th Tenerife Shorts, Canary Shorts section, Tenerife, 2022
• 8th Another Way Film Festival, Rueda por el Cambio de Another Way 22 Section, Madrid, 2022
• 24th Festival Corto Ciudad Real, Parallel Section, Ciudad Real, 2022
• 10th Rural FilmFest, Official Selection, Camp d’Elx, Alicante, 2022
• 13th Cerdanya Film Festival, Official Selection, Puigcerdà, 2022
• 11th ForadCamp – Muestra de Cine con la Naturaleza, Figaró-Montmany, 2022
• 9th Premios Pávez, Animadocu Section, Talavera de la Reina, 2022
• 5th Mares da Fin do Mundo, Competición Oficial, Outes, 2022
• 2nd La Pinochera – Semana de Cine Rural y Ecológico de Canarias, Tenerife, 2022
• Mujeres de Cine – Muestra itinerante de cine español hecho por mujeres, Bustarviejo, 2022
• 16th Ecozine Film Festival, Zaragoza, 2023

Special screenings

• Autonomous University of Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Madrid, 2023
• Canarias en Corto, Espacio Aguere Cultural, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2022
• Canarias en Corto, Teatro Guiniguada, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2022

Creative Team

Director, writer and cinematographer
Nayra Sanz Fuentes
Producers
Alberto Bódalo Valcárcel
Nayra Sanz Fuentes
Production managers
Paloma Marengo
Eric Swanson
Production assistants
Elena Azzedín
Berta Fuentes Feo
Lourdes Pérez Izquierdo
Editors
Alberto Bódalo Valcárcel
Nayra Sanz Fuentes
Camera operators
Alberto Bódalo Valcárcel
Nacho Hita
Paloma Marengo
Nayra Sanz Fuentes
Image post production
Barnert Films
Sound post production
César Molina
Nacho Royo-Villanova
La Bocina Sonido