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 Tracing Utopia Tracing Utopia Tracing Utopia Tracing Utopia




Catarina de Sousa e Nick Tyson, 2021

27’, vídeo e filme 8mm, cor, som dolby surround, falado em inglês. Portugal. Distribuição e vendas por Portugal Film – Portuguese Film Agency.





SINOPSE
Uma viagem à dimensão queer. Através do espaço e do tempo. Jovens queer sonham o futuro. Uma máquina de guerra é construída e está em movimento. O amor vencerá. Elxs irão mudar o mundo. Tracing Utopia é uma odisseia através dos sonhos de jovens queer nova-iorquinos e das suas visões de um mundo melhor. Realizado por Catarina de Sousa e Nick Tyson, este documentário imagina a forma de uma comunidade queer que transcende o tempo, através de vislumbres de uma utopia manifestada nas ruas, em espaços colectivos e online.
Um manifesto colaborativo entrelaça estes passados e futuros, afirmando uma mudança ambicionada pela juventude queer dos nossos dias: "Enquanto jovens queer de Queens, exigimos esta utopia para construir um mundo melhor."

Tracing Utopia estreou no Festival Internacional de Cinema de Rotterdão. Foi vencedor do Prémio de Melhor Curta-Metragem Narrativa no Kashish Mumbai International Short Film Festival e teve uma Menção Honrosa do Prémio Casa Comum no Queer Porto ambos em 2021, e uma Menção Especial no Porto Femme em 2022.












CRÉDITOS
Escrito e dirigido por Catarina de Sousa e Nick Tyson, com Asher, Chase, Jay, Mars, Raphael
Elenco Asher, Chase, Mars, Jay, Raphael, Julia, Lindsey
Fotografia Catarina de Sousa, Nick Tyson
Gravação de Som H. Mur, Rafael Gonçalves CardosoSound Mix Rafael Gonçalves Cardoso
Edição Catarina de Sousa
Produtores UnionDocs, Catarina de Sousa, Nick Tyson
Produzido por Foi Bonita a Festa
Com o apoio da UnionDocs
Assistente de Camera Hõbe Ilus
Assistente de Arte Daniel Monello
Assessor de Direção de Arte James Bartol
Efeitos Visuais Catarina Aguiar, Nick Tyson
Correção de Cor Rita Lamas
Design Gráfico Catarina Aguiar
Diretor Artístico Executivo Christopher Allen
Produtora de Laboratórios e Workshops Martine Granby
Assistente de direção artística Jenny Miller
Mentora Tara Mateik
Minecraft Constructions Asher, Chase, Julia, Lindsey, Mars, Raphael, MrGarretto Super 8mm Filmagem “Queer Liberation March” NY, 2020
Filme e Revelado por Catarina de Sousa no MONO NO AWARE
Apoio Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
Música “Life on Mars?” de David Bowie e “Touch-Tone Telephone” de Lemon Demon

Texto adaptado de The Unavowable Community by Maurice Blanchot and “Changes” by David Bowie

    Equipa UnionDocs
Diretore de Projetos Especiais Alison S. M. Kobayashi
Assistente de Programas Abby Lord
Assistente de Operações Juan Pedro Agurcia

    2020 UnionDocs Estúdio Colaborativo de Artistas
Nundrisha Wakhloo, Hõbe Ilus, Nick Tyson, Bronte Stahl, Elijah Stevens, Liyan Zhao, Milton Secchi, Catarina De Sousa, Amir Shams, Xen Nhà, Hilo Mur, Lindsay Skedgell

   Especial agradecimento
Caitlin Mae Burke, Cecilia Aldarondo, Kellen Quinn, Sophia Nahil Allison, Ephraim Asili, Mary Helena Clark, Penny Lane, Derek Howard, Zack Khalil, Dan Rosato, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Kazuhiro Soda, Brett Story, Su Friedrich, Christopher Harris, Eric Hynes, Roger W. Beebe, Carlos A. Gutiérrez, Ted Kennedy, Jackie Goss, Courtney Stephens, Leo Goldsmith, Toby Lee, Sean Boyd - Art Farm Recording, Lindsey Duel, Julia Peitzer, Carson Parish, Brian Lewis, Jean Sonderand, Julian Donaghue, Sharang Biswas, Carlos Maria de Sousa, Maria Teresa da Cunha Guimarães, Lian Andrade, Zara Pinto Coelho, Maria Conceição de Sousa, Constança Urbano de Sousa, Luís Urbano, Jacinta Aguiar, Mariana Silva, Pedro Neves Marques, UnionDocs Board of Directors, UnionDocs Advisory Committee, UnionDocs Collaborative Alumni





FESTIVAIS DE CINEMA
IFFR | International Film Festival Rotterdam (estreia e vencedor do Ammodo Tiger Short Award), Holanda, 2022
Vilnius International Film Festival, Lituânia, 2022
Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen, Holanda, 2022
IndieLisboa – Festival Internacional de Cinema, Portugal, 2022
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Alemanha, 2022
Vienna Shorts, Áustria, 2022
Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, Alemanha, 2022
Leiden Shorts, Holanda, 2022
Short Waves, Polónia, 2022
Festival MiX, Itália, 2022
Curtas Vila do Conde – Festival Internacional de Cinema, Portugal, 2022
Bourgas International Film Festival, Bulgária, 2022
Melbourne International Film Festival, Austrália, 2022
International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Índia, 2022

Into The Great Wide Open, Holanda, 2022
Helsinki International Film Festival - Love &
Anarchy, Finlândia, 2022
Encounters Film Festival, Reino Unido, 2022
Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival BIEFF, Roménia, 2022
Le Cri du Court, França, 2022
New York Film Festival, EUA, 2022
IndieCork, Irlanda, 2022
IFFR | International Film Festival Rotterdam: Return of the Tiger, Holanda, 2022
KFFK - Film Festival Cologne, Alemanha, 2022
Festival MiX - Special Selection Programme, Itália, 2022
Caminhos do Cinema Português, Portugal, 2022
Entre Olhares, Portugal, 2022
Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Suíça, 2022
Queer Porto, Portugal, 2022





SCREENINGS
HOME, Manchester, Reino Unido, 2022
Arquipélago, Ilha de São Miguel, Portugal, 2022
Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ucrânia, 2021




PRESS
“COVID 19 has been particularly tough on young people, and even more so, young people who identify as LGBTQ+. Their safe spaces and social circles removed, with many sitting in homes where they can not connect with others and be true to themselves. This isolation breeds fear in the world that lies ahead and a desperate need to reconnect and build new trust and support relationships. Directed by Catarina de Sousa and Nick Tyson, TRACING UTOPIA allows space for young people to talk and reflect on the world they would like to build. Each young person’s thoughts and feelings on equality, diversity and inclusion surrounded by graphics and animation.

Ideas range from LGBTQ+ history on the school timetable to creating new safe spaces in neighbourhoods. Each viewpoint and opinion valued and heard by the other teenagers remotely surrounding them. The online world briefly and powerfully opened up for teenagers eager to build something better —the result, a positive, creative and deeply moving exploration of teenage LGBTQ+ life, hopes and dreams.”

    - Neil Baker, 21 March 2021, Cinerama Film Online



“Realmente único. Tracing Utopia retrata a un grupo de jóvenes de la comunidad LGBTQ conversando acerca de cómo sería una utopía para ellos, a su vez planteando un manifiesto para la igualdad y el respeto. Es tierno, triste y necesario para nuestro tiempo. Además brinda una mirada honesta de la Generación Z, que puede llegar a sorprender, ya que ha sido una generación muchas veces ridiculizada y vista de menos. Pero que en este documental demuestra sus verdaderos colores. Una generación de personas que buscan un mejor futuro.
El documental cuenta con un formato estupendo, honestamente la primera vez que miro algo así. Utilizar el footage de Minecraft para contar una historia de este potencial es algo único. O al menos para mí lo es.
Las entrevistas con las y los jóvenes del documental se complementan con el footage del videojuego y quien lo ha jugado, entiende perfectamente el por qué de su uso en un cortometraje con la palabra “utopía” en su título.
Catarina y Nick, directores de la película nos dan una propuesta de storytelling hermosa que de seguro será tomada como estándar para muchos. Porque su fuerza y empatía con los personajes y el público es indudable.”

    - Manuel Omar Mejía, 4 February 2021, Simulacro Mag



“My dad said 'he' to me! 'Exclaimed the trans boy. His joy radiates from the screen. Where they first met live, a group of teenagers in New York City now meet each other virtually. The pandemic makes it impossible to create a physical safe space, so an online environment is now being sought. They suddenly agree that there is a great need for these kinds of places.
In the short documentary 'Tracing Utopia', the online safe space is built in the environment of the popular video game Minecraft. Here they create a kind of manifesto for a perfect world in which everyone can be themselves. These video images are interspersed with video calls in which these young people give their vision of the world and explain what needs to change. It's an intimate and refreshing glimpse into the world of what we call Generation Z.
These young people are extremely inspiring with their outspoken visions and hopeful attitude. 'Tracing Utopia' provides the positive vibes that are much needed in these complicated times. Their manifesto, one of them concludes, is a statement for the people of the future. 'We are doing it - the fight for them.'”

    - Zij Aan Zij, February 2021 (Translated from Dutch)




“La primera película que me sorprendió gratamente respecto a lo mencionado es un corto documental llamado Tracing Utopia (2021), dirigido por Nick Tyson y Catarina de Sousa en una coproducción entre Estados Unidos y Portugal. En esta curiosa apuesta, un grupo de adolescentes se pregunta por la posible existencia de una utopía queer.
En esta búsqueda, construyen comunidades virtuales utilizando el famoso videojuego MineCraft, el cual les permite explorar espacios que exceden lo tangible y que, sin embargo, pueden constituirse como lugares de pertenencia afectiva.”

    - Ofelia Meza, Revista Encuadra, 9 February 2021




“The sun is a yellow cube. In the 3D world of the Minecraft video game, it hovers over the other blocks that mark houses, meadows and bees. Although it doesn't rain, many rainbows can be seen under the cube sun. Jay, Raphael, Chase, Asher, and Mars installed all of that. The young people, some of whom define themselves neither as male nor as female, know each other through building and designing together online. There they discuss: unisex toilets, police violence, David Bowie and aliens, playing in the virtual outside while they are actually sitting alone in their rooms, the lack of acceptance by their own parents. "I'm so done with this world. I’ll build my own world “, as one teenager once put it. And nothing less than this queer world structure is shown in the short film Tracing Utopia by Catarina de Sousa and Nick Tyson, which shows scenarios of transition (digital / analog, outside / inside, male / female, young / old) and, appropriately, itself as a small one , but describes a complex construct between tragedy and comedy.
Occasionally de Sousa and Tyson appear in their documentary sketch themselves and in front of the camera. But the adults listen first and foremost, let the young experts have their say, who formulate precise demands on a heteronormative society via manifesto. Tracing Utopia characterizes a specific arrangement of screens of different smartphones, which is supplemented by recordings from the Queer Liberation March 2020 in New York, sometimes by architectures from the Minecraft dimension or the appearances of de Sousa and Tyson. Within this arrangement, the sympathetic speakers gather in a visual, equal side by side, similar to a conference setting in which the audience is only allowed to participate to a limited extent. Tracing Utopia demonstrates principles of invitation and exclusion, withdrawal and appropriation, designs futures and thinks back melancholy; a fascinating, cinematic preoccupation with dreaming spaces.”

    - Anne Küper, 7 February 2021, Critic.de (Translated from German)