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1492. Among the crew captained by Christopher Columbus, travel three men who should have been dead by now. They have managed to avoid their sad fate by taking part in this uncertain journey, but reaching the Canary Islands they flee, taking one of the ship’s sails with them. Meanwhile, in the “Old World”, a woman tries to save her dying sister by bringing her to a healer. Both of these journeys attempt to laugh at death. Both journeys are at the mercy of time and History.
Title: Eles Transportan a Morte
International Title: They Carry Death
Genre: Fiction/ Anti-History
Running time: 75 minutes
Recording Format: 16mm
Projection Format: DCP Color 2K
Production Country: Spain
Original language: Galician / Spanish
Language of subtitles: English
Producers:El Viaje Films, Fimika Galaika, La Banda Negra, Blond Indian Films
Year of Production: 2021
Premiere: Venice International Film Critics´Week (2021)
Color: Color
Aspect Ratio: 1:85
Sound: Dolby 5.1
Director: Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado
Screenwriter: Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado
DOP: Jose Alayón
Sound: Carlos García
Art Direction: Silvia Navarro
Editing: Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Music: Camilo Sanabria
Cast: Xoán Reixes, Valentín Estévez, David Pantaleón, Sara Ferro, Nuria Lestegás, Josefa Rita Míguez Cal, Gallego, Momia Nº6 del Museo Canario
- Venice International Film Critics´Week (Italy, 2021) | Mario Serandrei Award
- San Sebastián International Film Festival (Spain, 2021) | Special Mention Zabaltegi-Tabakalera
- Festival Cinespaña Toulouse (France, 2021) | Best Direction – Best Music and Sound Design
- Ourense International Film Festival (Spain, 2021) | Xacobeo Award
- Filmfest Hamburg (Germany, 2021)
- Curtocircuito International Film Festival Santiago de Compostela (Spain, 2021)
- Márgenes Festival (Spain, 2021)
- Valdivia International Film Festival (Chile, 2021)
- Brisbane International Film Festival (Australia, 2021)
- Venezia a Napoli. Il cinema esteso (Italy, 2021)
- Vienna International Film Festival (Austria, 2021)
- Sao Paulo International Film Festival (Brazil, 2021)
- La Serena International Film Festival (Chile, 2021)
- Abycine – Festival de Cine de Albacete (Spain, 2021)
- Mar del Plata International Film Festival (Argentina, 2021)
- Porto/Post/Doc (Portugal, 2021)
- Cairo International Film Festival (Egypt, 2021) | Best artistic contribution Award (Cinematography)
- Festival Márgenes (Spain, 2021)
- Novos Cinemas – Festival Internacional de Cinema de Pontevedra (Spain, 2021) | Best film
- International Film Festival Rotterdam (Netherlands, 2022)
- FICUNAM (Mexico, 2022)
- Ojoloco – Festival de Cinéma Ibérique et Latino-américain (France, 2022)
- Vilnius International Film Festival (Lithuania, 2022) | Best direction
- CineLatino – CineEspañol (Germany, 2022)
- Espanoramas – Spanish Cinema Showcase (Argentina, 2022)
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria IFF (Spain, 2022)
- D’A Film Festival (Spain, 2022)
- Jeonju International Film Festival (South Korea, 2022)
- FICMEC – International Environmental Film Festival of the Canary Islands (Spain, 2022) | Jury Special Mention
We have always been seduced by the mystery of the past, because of the universe of possibilities, actions , ideas and experiences, which envisioning it from a contemporary standpoint implies.
The film is set in 1492, a year that represents the beginning of the Western project of global domination, a period which also represents what some theorists point out as the beginning of a new geological era, the so-called Anthropocene. From this date on, witch-hunts, the slave trade and the conquest of America were essential to establish and articulate the modern capitalist system of which we are all descendants.
They Carry Death is a film about mourning, about the death of our loved ones, of our friends, of the image we have of them in our memory. But also of those we never knew, of the ideas and memories that were buried along the way, and that somehow manage to stay alive in us, like an inextinguishable flame.
Samuel M. Delgado y Helena Girón
