Makedox Festival highlights contemporary Spanish documentaries

The 17th edition of the Makedox Creative Documentary Film Festival featured Spain as its country in focus, showcasing a selection of contemporary Spanish documentary films. The program included screenings of Xavier Marades’ short film ‘Swarm of Birds’ and Miguel Eek’s feature-length documentary ‘Amilcar’.

‘Amilcar’ follows the life of the legendary African anti-colonial revolutionary Amilcar Cabral, exploring his role as an intellectual leader and the internal power struggles that preceded his assassination. Eek noted that the film utilized a mix of 50 percent archival material and 50 percent actual testimonies and visualizations, a process that spanned nearly 12 years.

In conjunction with the screenings, filmmakers Miguel Eek and Xavier Marades conducted masterclasses at Laboratorij. The sessions focused on the various visible and invisible forces that shape documentary filmmaking, including personal emotions, relationships with protagonists, ethical responsibilities, political climates, and the impact of self-censorship on the creative process.