A DOCUMENTARY FILM BY ALEJANDRO G. SALGADO

PRODUCED BY LA MALETA

CONTACT FOR INTERNATIONAL SALES & FESTIVALS: WIDE HOUSE | ac@widehouse.org

BOLINGO. THE FOREST OF LOVE tells the story of the journey made by several women from the heart of Africa to North Morocco looking for the “European dream”.

This journey will get them into a trip to motherhood at Bolingo or some other awaiting camp settled next to the Moroccan-Spanish border.

Bolingo means love in Lingala, the language of a group of Congolese migrants that decided to give a little humanity to the migrants’ drama in the north of Africa. Thus, they created a camp where migrant women could live with their children until circumstances allowed them to cross the border to Europe.

BOLINGO. THE FOREST OF LOVE shows the way in which these mothers confront their survival and the raising of their children during an unlimited time in a hostile land.

IT IS A JOURNEY IN SPACE AND TIME TOWARDS MOTHERHOOD BY THE HAND OF WOMEN WHO COME TO SACRIFICE EVERYTHING TO REACH THE “EUROPEAN DREAM”.

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The creation of Bolingo starts as a flash of love and will embark on the journeys of our protagonists through their testimonies, moving ahead between the lights and shadows of different paths until reaching the camp site.

BOLINGO is a story of lights and shadows, and of struggle and hope, but unfortunately, it is also a story imbued with suffering and darkness.

Everything gets bigger at night. Dreams and nightmares become more real, almost tangible. The worst acts also take place at night, under the cover of darkness, and so grows the fear of the unknown.

But it is also at night when these women are able to overcome the ghosts of the past, hand in hand with their little babies.

THE JOURNEY

The journey is the basis of our story. Without the journey, there is no dream; no experiences, no reflection, nothing. This story would not make any sense without the journey, merely because there is no other option.

Bolingo is the result of the needs that arise from their journey, forming part of the journey itself but not forming an additional part. It is an obligatory stop along the way forced by circumstances and a refuge which also becomes a trap.

Bolingo means love. Love is the engine of this story.From the start of each journey to their stay in the camp, each story is marked by glimpses of love, by particular acts that make life worth living, as it would be otherwise impossible for these women to continue their journeys; it would be impossible for them to continue living.

They have sacrificed it all for their love of an idea, and in the middle of that journey, in the midst of situations of extreme cruelty, it was only love what made them stronger.

This is a story of mother-child love, the love for children, of whom many were conceived through rape. Children who are after all part of their mothers, their story and their beings. Children who acted as a driving force to push forward, to avoid despair and to give meaning to their mother’s gamble, journey and lives.

NIGHT LOVE

THE JOURNEY · NIGHT · LOVE

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For the three years the creative process of this work has lasted, Bolingo has become a key part of my life. I have loved, suffered and taken care of every single drawback or twist the project has had as if it were a part of me.

Throughout of all of this time, both the idea and the project have undergone several transformations due to the difficulty involved in every single part of the film discourse, as well as the firm commitment related to each of them from the very beginning.

The enormous difficulty in accessing the camp and even its disappearance due to the intervention of the Moroccan Gendarmerie has to be coupled with the effort involved in the search, for so many years, of different women’s profiles suitable for the project. Women who were able to trust in the idea and in our honesty, who would allow us to enter their lives and work with them, that were capable of standing in front of the camera maintaining the tone while

they were opening terribly painful wounds, not knowing when they would be able to close them again.

The tone of the work is sometimes harsh, because it contains for an extended period of time the dramatic tension by means of the silence, the breathing and the gaze. Likewise, soundscapes and animated illustrations move and transport us to help us transition between different sceneries.

The story of Bolingo is like a lullaby, wild and menacing yet hypnotic and calm.

The story of Bolingo is the story of a place that despite being at the frontier of reverie, sees its genesis in the genuine desire to mitigate the threat of a terrible reality. However, neither the fear resulting from the needs of the present, nor the uncertainty of the future nor the scars from the past are resolved in this “magic space,” which of the little that continues to linger, is practically the only factor which differentiates itself from the rest: its name.

ALEJANDRO G. SALGADO · DIRECTOR

ALEJANDRO G. SALGADO graduated in Media & Communication Studies and History of Art from University of Seville. He completed his studies by an specialisation in long feature film script writting in Estudio de Cine in Barcelona. In 2010 Alejandro won INJUVE Award to Young Creation (Ministry of Health Social Services and Equality) as well as many national and international awards for AMONG TISSUES AND DREAMS short documentary project.Since 2011 he worked with direction and production teams of various feature films EL HOMBRE DE LAS MIL CARAS by Alberto Rodríguez, LEJOS DEL MAR by Inmanol Uribe, TORO by Kike Maíllo or THE SLEEPING VOICE by Benito Zambrano. In 2013 he directed THE DISORDER OF THE SENSES documentary film, ASECAN prize to the 2014 Best Andalusian Documentary Short Film among other international awards.

In 2013 he directed THE DISORDER OF THE SENSES documentary film, Best Documentary Short Film is festivals in Canada, Turkey or Philippines and Best Andalusian Documentary Short Film- ASECAN among other international & national awards.

From 2014 he belongs to the production company La Maleta and at the same time he writes and directs different types of audiovisual works.

In 2016 he directs the documentary film BOLINGO. THE FOREST OF LOVE (IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary and IMAGENERA 2016 Silver Award).

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

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The idea of opting for a project like BOLINGO given the resources we had as a production company was undoubtedly a very risky and complex baseline initiative, and so has been proven by the sequence of events.

However, we have been able to overcome the challenging environment (at all levels of action) through creativity, hard work and the energy resulting from the certainty that we are dealing with a really powerful idea, which we knew how to convey in an honest and noble manner, and furthermore that idea could have an impact upon the collective.

The production of a piece like BOLINGO has had two key components that conditioned the whole process:

-A constant work with the women in order to being able to understand their codes and needs as well as being capable to guarantee them the chance to make a reflection exercise in freedom and security.

- A shooting in conflict areas such as the waiting camps, which has placed us in a context of permanent resizing in terms of production.

These conditioning factors have certainly provided the most valuable lessons in a learning exercise that has taken more than three years of work.

In our range of social documentary with invisibility as the focal point, we have been able to create a story told by some specific women and about a specific migratory transit, but which ultimately is the story of many women and many transits. The story of Bolingo is a journey to the future as well as a journey to motherhood. And certainly these journeys are full of universal elements which concern us much more than it may appear.

Our story is one of immigration, gender, European dream, childhood, racism, xenophobia, conflict, but above all, our story is about love.

IRENE HENS · PRODUCER

Irene Hens graduated in Audiovisual Communication and specialized in Cultural Management at the Confederation of Businessmen of Andalusia, as well as in Cultural Management and Policies from Open University of Catalonia. She furthered her education at the Art & Culture Business School and obtained her Master’s Degree in Management of Art and Cultural Organizations.

With a professional career that falls within the field of audiovisual production, she has worked as Production Manager in documentaries such as BOLINGO. THE FOREST OF LOVE and THE DISORDER OF THE SENSES, both directed by Alejandro G. Salgado and produced by their production company La Maleta. She has also worked as Production Coordinator in the feature film THE MOBILE, the latest production by filmmaker Manuel Martín Cuenca, and as Head of Production in several advertising spots.

In the field of event production and coordination, she has worked in festivals such as the Seville European Film Festival for six editions, within the areas of Management and Communication, media plan and sponsorships; ZEMOS98 and events related to the creative and cultural industries like “Encuentro Lunar” or “Creativa”, both of which are promoted by the Department of Innovation, Science and Enterprise of the Andalusian Government.

Furthermore, she has developed part of her professional path as cultural consultant, specializing in sponsorships and cultural patronage for the Cordoba Guitar Festival, “Nocturama” and “Mes de Danza.”

PRODUCER’S NOTES

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LA MALETALA MALETA is a company dedicated to audiovisual production and cultural creation. This company is formed by four partners and a wide network of contributors who have dedicated their careers to the management and the production of festivals, to movie making and to specialized audiovisual technique. Alejandro G. Salgado, Irene Hens, David G. López de la Osa and Blanca Garcia Carrera are the seed of this project, that has been active since 2008. They are an experienced professional & creative production team specialized in audiovisual service, documentary projects development and finding funding.

LA MALETA has participated with their works in many international film festivals such as Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival (Qatar), travelling through countries from Canada to Philippines with their documentary films THE DISORDEN OF THE SENSE and AMONG TISSUES AND DREAMS. BOLINGO. THE FOREST OF LOVE is it last documentary film and has been selected for IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary and won IMAGENERA 2016 Silver Award.

DOCUMENTARY | ENGLISH | SPAIN | 2016 | 55’

SubttitleS availableS: SPANISH, ENGLISH

official rating of the inStitute of film and audioviSual artS - miniStry of culture (icaa): “NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 12” and with the diStinctive “ESPECIALLY RECOMMENDED FOR THE PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY.”

THE WOMEN

THE WOMEN WHO WERE BRAVE ENOUGH TO SIT BEFORE US AND REOPEN THEIR WOUNDS TO TELL THEIR STORY HAVE DECIDED TO PRESERVE THEIR IDENTITY.

WE MUST RECOGNIZE THEIR INFINITE GENEROSITY AND THANK THEM... FOR THE EFFORT IT MEANT FOR THEM TO ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE.

direction ALEJANDRO G. SALGADO executive producer IRENE HENScinematography SERGIO CARO & DAVID G. LÓPEZ DE LA OSA Sound CARLI PÉREZ Sound deSign & SuperviSing RAFA MARTÍNEZ illuStration ÓSCAR ORTIZ MARZO muSic CLAUDIO MAESTRE film editing DAVID G. LÓPEZ DE LA OSA & ALEJANDRO G. SALGADO graphic image BLANCA G. CARRERAanimation coordinator DAVID G. LÓPEZ DE LA OSAanimation aSSiStantS ÁNGEL VÁZQUEZ & ÁNGELES INVERNÓNcolor correction JUAN JOSÉ MULEROproduction aSSiStant (morroco) JOSÉ COLÓN & SERGIO CAROproduction aSSiStant (Spain) RUBÉN MURO mix 5.1 JOSÉ A. MANOVELaSSiStant Sound editor RAFA CASTILLAmuSic mixer engineer CRIS ROMEROnarrator GLORIA EKEREUWEMContent conSultant ESPERANZA JORGE BARBUZANO

DETAILS

CAST & CREW

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PRODUCED BY PARTICIPATED BY SUPPORTED BY INTERNATIONA SALES

BOLINGO. THE FOREST OF LOVE2016