FOUR AWARDS FOR "DOS ISLAS" IN HAVANA

The 17th edition of the festival Muestra Joven ICAIC 2018, which has just finished in Havana, turned out to be particularly lucky for Adriana F. Castellanos and her debut film "Dos Islas." This film, developed at Wajda School, within the frames of the documentary film course, won as many as four awards.

The Special Mention in the Main Documentary Film Competition, Rogelio Paris In Memoriam Award, the Award from the "Nature and Humankind Foundation" as well as the Award for Sound Recording was bestowed on the film made at Wajda Studio and 59 en Conserva and on its director with her roots on Cuba. So far, this is the most spectacular success of the documentary film, which is still being discovered by the audience.

"Dos Islas" is a poetic story about the intergenerational dialogue which is illustrated by showing the special relationship between a granddaughter and her grandma. Adriana, fascinated by her grandma's memories, decides to go from Cuba to the island El Hierro, where the 102-year-old Elvira spent her childhood.      
 
Grandma left for Cuba in 1920s. Exactly in 1923, that is, before the dictatorship of Franco. It was really a long, long time ago. During film-making, I constantly compared my situation and that of my grandma. Her emigration versus mine? At the beginning, I thought that they were similar to each other. Later it turned out that they were different, though. First, grandma was 11 years old when she left. And it was not her own decision, unlike in my case. I left to find my own place in the world. Grandma - to look for a better world. Completely different attitudes, but emotions and the pain connected with them is the same. Always we have to leave someone behind. And always there has to be some kind of separation, Adriana remembered her work on the film.

The film by Adriana F. Castellanos had its festival premiere at last year's Krakow Film Festival. "Dos Islas" was also featured at the festivals: Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) and the International Documentary Film Festival in  Amsterdam (IDFA).

On the 29th of November 2017, the official premiere of the film was held in the Cinema Muranów in Warsaw, together with other projects by Wajda Studio, that is, "Arabic Secret" by Julia Groszek and the short film "Loneliness" by Karol Pałka.

press release by Wajda School