Iberodocs 2015 preview

The Plague (La Plaga) will close the second edition of the festival.

Spreading its wings for its second edition, Iberodocs 2015 (Scotland's Ibero-American Documentary Film Festival) will take place in both Edinburgh (May 14-17) and Glasgow (May 23-24), with double the number of films as the 2014 programme. Collected around the theme of 'Identity/ies', more than 20 films from 15 different countries will give audiences the chance to explore Ibero-American cultures through documentary filmmaking, including a range of short films and the first Scottish retrospective of Portuguese documentarian Catarina Mourão.

The main part of the programme concentrates on eight films. Edinburgh Filmhouse will open Iberodocs 2015 with Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America, a study of the eponymous Argentinian folk singer, while Glasgow CCA plays host to the festival's closing film - The Plague - ten days later. In the time between those two films, audiences can access a Madrileño 'adult' cinema in Paradiso, a daughter's return to Paraguay to care for her mother in Cloudy Times (including a Q&A with director Arami Ullón), transgender experiences in Puerto Rico in Mala Mala, the lives of rural communities in the Basque Country in Etxea: The Basque Word For Home (including a Q&A with director Basharat Khan), and an existential journey into the Andes in Humano.

The Salt Of The Earth

In addition to the Mourão masterclass and retrospective - featuring My Village Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Through Shadows, The Lady Of Chandor, and her new film The Wolf's Lair - the Lusophone Eye strand of the festival incorporates both rural Portuguese singing traditions in Alentejo, Alentejo and the LGBT community of the slums of Rio de Janeiro in Favela Gay (the latter will be followed by a Q&A with producer Carlos Eduardo Valinoti). Iberodocs also makes internationally-renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado a focal point of this section, with two documentaries - The Salt Of The Earth and Meeting Sebastião Salgado - creating a dual portrait of the man and his career.

Following on from their screening of Lois Patiño's Coast Of Death last year, the 2015 festival also takes 'New Galician Cinema' as a focus, showcasing the region's resurgence in non-fiction filmmaking in recent years. Films in this section include Arraianos - Eloy Enciso's portrait of an otherworldly village on the Galicia-Portugal border - and Vikingland, in which director Xurxo Chirro edits found-footage around the structure of Herman Melville's Moby Dick to explore economic migration and cultural identity. The producer of both films - Beli Martínez - will be in attendance for Q&A sessions after the screenings. Likewise director Pela del Álamo will be in Glasgow for the screening of his documentary about the road linking Madrid and Galicia, N-VI Vanishing Roadsides. The three feature-length documentaries in Focus on Galicia are each accompanied by a short film directed by Lois Patiño, Eloy Domínguez Serén, and David Hernández respectively.

Full details of the festival - including further information about the films - can be found on the Iberodocs website. Tickets can be purchased from Filmhouse and Glasgow CCA

Related Features: Director Xurxo Chirro talks about Vikingland and New Galician Cinema. Iberodocs opening night