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EL DESTELLO (THE FLICKER)
May 21 2009 - "The Flcker" has been selected for this year's Sunny Side of the Doc Thematic Pitch Sessions (BIPS). We will be presenting our project on the 24th of June. The session starts at 15:00 and closes at 16:30, and takes place at the Agora. We welcome you to join us and support us! 
Horacio is a Uruguayan lighthouse keeper stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. He is the grandson of a slave from the Congo. Some time ago he served as a “Blue Helmet” in his ancestral home. This journey, that began as a means of economic advancement, became a journey to the roots of his poverty.
This is the story of the grandchild of a slave taken from Africa to Latin-America long after the abolition of slavery. Our hero is Horacio, a family man who works as a lighthouse keeper on a solitary island in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Horacio was raised to serve. As a child, he served on the endless pampas as a day laborer. At the age of eighteen joins the navy where he serves his country and sees the world. But some years ago a series of unexpected events change Horacio’s life forever.
His first harrowing experience was surviving a horrific boat crash where he saw most of his mates drown as he floated on the open seas for over thirteen hours in the ice-cold. Some years later he joined Uruguay’s peace keeping force and was sent to serve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country of his ancestors.
The journey which began as a means of economic progress gradually became a journey to his own past, to the roots of his family’s poverty and the commitment to serve.
When Horacio returned to Uruguay, he was not the same man. His soul was imbued with terrible memories and questions about life itself.
He was posted as a lighthouse keeper on an island which is home to 250 thousand sea lions. The island became Horacio’s therapy and therapist, a place where he was left alone to deal with the demons of his past.
Now Horacio is about to retire. He decides to stand on his own feet and never again serve another master. He wants to return once again to the land where his story began. He wants to join the blue helmets in the Congo in order to raise sufficient money to put up his own business: a small sowing machine repair shop at the backyard of his humble home.
But Horacio’s health was wrecked by service. Will he be able to return for the last time to the land of his ancestors, leave the past behind and start life anew?
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THE DEVIL'S FIDDLER
A coproduction of Librecine and Bueno Medienprodktion
 At the age of 18 gypsy violin virtuoso Roby Lakatos rebelled and left his native Hungary, taking his instrument with him. Elderly musicians never pardoned the descendent of the King of Violin for abandoning his people. 25 years later Roby is back to ask for their forgiveness, and to affirm that being one’s self is not a sin. His journey will soon become a passage through the folklore, customs and music of Hungary’s gypsy culture.
Lakatos travels to a small village on the southern border of Hungary to play at a traditional gypsy feast. The second Thursday of each February, gypsy musicians gather to attend the “burial of the double-bass”. They confess their sins committed against their instrument and music to a false priest, and in the circle of wailing women they lie to rest the biggest brother of the violin. This ceremony expiates musicians of their past sins and grants the opportunity to start anew. Having conquered the world, Roby will now have to win his place amongst his own people. |
