AQUERONTE
​​​​by Manuel Muñoz Rivas

26min | Spain | 2023

On board a ferry, a series of passengers cross a river from one riverbank to the other.
Some of the travelers wrap themselves in silence and observe the unfamiliar fellow travelers or contemplate the scenery. Some others chat, perhaps to liven up the voyage and speed up time.
The journey on the waters seems to expand, the destination shore is postponed, the magnitude of space is blurred. Motion itself is perhaps the only certainty.
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Year of production 2023
Length 26'
Country Spain
Shooting Format 16mm
Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
Dialogue Spanish
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Director Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Producer Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Executive Producer Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Production Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Writer Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Cinematographer Mauro Herce, Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Editor Manuel Muñoz Rivas
Sound Designer José Homer Mora, Luiz Lepchak
Sound Recordist Joaquín Pachón
Sound  Mix Alejandro Castillo
Production Manager María Gisèle Royo
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Website
Manuel Muñoz Rivas
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Festival selections
​IFFR, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023, Netherlands - World Premiere,  KNF Award
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2023, UK
True/False Film Fest 2023, USA
New Directors/New Films 2023, USA
Festival de Málaga 2023, Spain - Best Documentary Short Film Award
D'A - Festival de Cinema de Barcelona 2023, Spain
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2023
Go Short - International Short Film Festival Nijmegen 2023, Netherlands
Andares Festival 2023, Peru - Jury Special Mention
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival 2023, Spain
​IndieLisboa International Film Festival 2023, Portugal​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Documenta Madrid 2023, Spain - Young Jury Award
Guadalajara Film Festival 2023, Mexico
DC DOX Festival 2023, USA
Mediterranean Film Festival Split 2023, Croatia
TIFF ODA - Tetova International Film Festival 2023, Republic of Macedonia
Manlleu Film Festival 2023, Spain
​Marienbad Film Festival 2023, Czech Republic
Lago Film Fest 2023, Italy
Apricot Tree International Film Festival 2023, Republic of Armenia - Grand Prize
​DokuFest - International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2023, Kosovo
Castrovillari Film Festival 2023, Italy - Best Film Award, Best Director Award
​Drama International Short Film Festival 2023, Greece - Grand Prix Award, Human Values Award
FICBUEU - Festival Internacional de Cinema de Bueu 2023, Spain
​​Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy 2023, Finland
​Vilnius Documentary Film Festival 2023, Lithuania
​​​​Tirana International Film Festival 2023, Albania - Best Short Documentary Award​
Nashville Film Festival 2023, USA
​ARKIPEL International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival 2023, Indonesia
​Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival 2023, Romania
​Vancouver International Film Festival 2023, Canada
Alcances Festival Cine Documental 2023, Spain - Best Director Award
Curtocircuíto - Festival Internacional de Cinema 2023, Spain
Reykjavik International Film Festival 2023, Iceland
Alexandria Mediterranean Countries Film Festival 2023, Egypt
​Plons! International Short Documentary Film Festival Leeuwarden 2023, Netherlands
​Mediterranean Film Festival 2023, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Short Days 2023, Italy
Viennale 2023, Austria
Atlantidoc, International Documentary Film Festival of Uruguay 2023 - Best Short Film Award
Festival Jóvenes Realizadores - Granada Film Fest 2023, Spain - Best Film Award
Filmfest Eberswalde 2023, Germany
​Raindance Film Festival 2023, UK
​Cinemed - Festival Cinema Mediterranéen Montpellier 2023, France
​Octubre Corto 2023, Spain - Best Photography Award
ABYCINE - Festival de Cine de Albacete 2023, Spain
Message to Man International Documentary, Short and Animated Film Festival 2023, Russia
ALCINE Festival Internacional de Cine 2023, Spain - Best National Short Film Award
​Ningbo Short Film Festival 2023, China - Special Jury Award
Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2023, Switzerland
​Cork International Film Festival 2023, Ireland
MedFilm Festival 2023, Italy
​L'Alternativa, Festival de Cine Independiente de Barcelona 2023, Spain - Special Mention
Certamen de Cine de Viajes del Ocejón en el Montgó 2023, Spain
​Linea d'Ombra Festival 2023, Italy
​Baku International Short Film Festival 2023, Azerbaijan
Izmir International Short Film Festival 2023, Turkey
​RIDM - Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal 2023, Canada - Special Mention
​Leuven International Short Film Festival 2023, Belgium
​Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena 2023, Spain - Best Short Movie Award, Best Photography Award
​​Festival Tous Courts 2023, France - Special Mention
Laceno d'oro International Film Festival 2023, Italy - Special Mention
​Passaggi d’Autore: Intrecci Mediterranei 2023, Italy - Best Short Film Award
BOGOSHORTS - Bogotá Short Film Festival 2023, Colombia
International Usak Short Film Festival 2023, Turkey
​London Short Film Festival 2024, UK
Sanfici - Santander Festival Internacional De Cine Independiente 2024, Colombia - Best International Short Film Award
​Panorama Internacional Coisa de Cinema 2024, Brazil
​Akbank International Short Film Festival 2024, Turkey
​​Chicago Latino Film Festival 2024, USA
​Busan International Short Film Festival 2024, South Korea - Excellence Award
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2024, Canada
Cinema Talks 2024, Austria - Best Film Award
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival 2024, Poland
Leiden Shorts 2024, Netherlands
Krakow Film Festival 2024, Poland (EFA Screening)
Mediterranean Film Festival Split 2023, Croatia (EFA Screening)
Shorts International Film Festival 2024, Italy (EFA Screening)
​Santiago del Estero Film Festival 2024, Argentina
European Film Festival Palic 2024, Serbia ​(EFA Screening)
Aigio International Short Film Festival "Theodoros Angelopoulos" 2024, Greece - Theo Angelopoulos Award, Best Cinematography Award
​Ischia Film Festival 2024, Italy - Best Short Film Award
​FeKK - Ljubljana Short Film Festival 2024, Slovenia (EFA Screening)
​Interaction: Short Docs Festival 2024, Serbia - Special Mention
Open Air Filmfest Weiterstadt 2024, Germany
​OKO - International Ethnographic Film Festival 2024, Ukraine - Special Jury Prize for the Best Fiction Short Film
​​Tirana International Film Festival 2024, Albania (EFA Screening)
​Tramway Film Festival 2024, Poland - Best Film Award
Kutaisi International Short Film Festival 2024, Georgia -Best Director Award
Thess International Short Film Festival 2024, Greece -Cinematic Achievement Award
​​Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2024, Switzerland (EFA Screening)
​ZINEBI - Festival Internacional de Cine Documental y Cortometraje de Bilbao 2024, Spain (EFA Screening)
Ha Noi International Film Festival 2024, Vietnam
Ostrava Kamera Oko 2024, Czech Republic
Ljubljana International Film Festival 2024, Slovenia ​- Special Mention
"Prvi kadar" International Film Festival 2024, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Jury Special Mention
Smita Patil International Film Festival 2025, India
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Director's Statement
With each new film project, it is natural for me to return to the foundational question of "what is cinema", and to engage with this inquiry through a wider formulation:
"what can cinema be?".
I feel that the commitment of every filmmaker is to carry
out a formal exploration through which, hopefully, to broaden the contours of what we expect from cinema as an art. Both as a filmmaker and as a film spectator, I
seek astonishment and wonder.
I would add that I also seek the revelation of something, a kind of truth, which might comfort me (and others) with a sense of belonging.
When I first approached the location where later I would shoot my film “Aqueronte”, the river Guadalquivir and more specifically the ferry boat that crosses it, I was
struck by the aesthetic characteristics of the scene. Everything that I identify as defining elements of cinema was there: movement, faces, bodies, landscape,
sound atmospheres, light and shadow, reverie, the visible and the latent force of the invisible... all present in the raw material with which to shape fragments of time and space.
Because ultimately that is what we filmmakers do: compose with fragments of time and fragments of space.

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