Centripetal
Fiction/35mm/2011
Director: Alex Méndez Giner
Cast: Sandy Siquier, Jesús Sosa, Rafael Marrero
Executive Producer: Juan Bernardo González
Production Director: Fadia Bardawil
General Producer: Anixe Bilbao
Cinematography: Raoul Held
Music and Sound: Javier Blanco
Editing: Leonardo Zuloaga/Alex Méndez Giner
Synopsis
A couple traveling in the middle of the night, get accidentally involved in a crime.
Director's Statement
Centripetal posits the idea of a self-contained universe, a micro-cosmos. Characters with competing needs and desires are forced to co-exist, something that—as the title suggests—prevents them from ever moving forward. Unlike my previous films, I decided to unpack the ideas in a straightforward narrative with a clear three-act strategy. I wrote the script in a strict format, splitting the number of pages and lines to yield a hyper- controlled narrative space. Every line delivered, every twist, corresponds with a familiar position within the narrative structure, rendering an otherwise experimental film accessible to a wider audience while still capturing my thoughts on indirect discourse, in which characters are proxies for abstract ideas.
Although simple in its writing, the film’s production required more than a year of fundraising and pre-production. The film is still today one of the best-funded shorts in Venezuelan history, with top-of-the-line film equipment and innovative post-production techniques. I see this film as a bridge in my career, spanning the celluloid and digital worlds. Shot in 35mm film, the project was post-produced entirely using high-tech digital facilities.
Festivals
Tolfa Short Film Festival. Italy 2013
Winner. Best Story, Short Category. 7th Buffalo Niagara Film Festival. USA 2013
1st Annapolis Film Festival. USA 2013
8th Detmold Intl. Short Film Festival Germany 2012
ELCO 2012 (Fest. de Cine Entre Cortos y Largos de Oriente) Venezuela 2012
28th Chicago Latino Film Festival. USA 2012
8th Rengo International Film Festival. Chile 2012
Festival Zona Urbana. Venezuela 2011
Winner. Audience’s Choice Award. 14th Shanghai International Film Festival. China 2011
19th Chile Intl. Shortfilm Fest. of Santiago. Chile 2011
16th Ourense International Film Festival. Spain 2011
8th Syracuse International Film Festival. USA 2011
23rd Viña del Mar International Film Festival. Chile 2011
8th Cusco International Film Festival. Peru 2011
10th Miami International Shortfilm Festival. USA 2011
4th Margarita Latinamerican Film Fest.Venezuela 2011
3rd CHORTS Caracas Intl. Shortfilm Fest.Venezuela 2011
Other Events and Exhibitions:
35th Interfilm Berlin International Short Film Festival 2019. Program Focus On: Insight Venezuela
Venezuelan Short Film Retrospective at Asociación Cultural Peruano Británica (Britanico). Peru 2019
Miami Short Film Festival. Venezuelan Short Film Retrospective "Focus on Venezuela" USA 2016
University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg. Artist Talk and Screening. 2013
Mobile World Congress. Spain 2012. Shanghai Short Film Winners Program
