Africa Pombo

Sobremesa= n. (table talk), after-dinner conversation.

This short film is about an uncomfortable yet curious teenager who explores what she can say and what spaces she can occupy within the Spanish society and her conservative middle / upper-middle class family. Although far-right movements and populist messages are on the rise in Spain (which can be seen not only in Spain but also across the world), filmmakers are not dealing with the same restrictions as in the past (during Francoist dictatorship). This allows them to produce content about historical awareness which has previously been kept silent. It is important that Spanish filmmakers and artists address the silenced history of dictatorship because if a discussion is not put in place, it will leave a chance for fascist ideologies to rise again.

Project start date: September 2019

In the middle of a project my hard drive broke with months worth of shots I had been recording from places around the world.

Sh*t! What do I do now? I decided to go back to the places on Google Maps in search of my lost data. I managed to find the places I had been and more importantly, I found virtual travelling to be a tool that can let a person travel around the world without the need of a passport or money. However, this way of travelling has its limitations. For example, some places are glitched or forbidden and some other are just not geographically on the map due to political beliefs (i.e: Palestine is not in Google Maps platform).

A small selection of short film posters