2024 Festival

Ever Present Procession of the Dead

Short film 

Quevedo writes about the speed at which life moves as a reflection of him growing older. He illustrates thoughts of existentialism and distress about wasting precious time throughout ones life. My video attempts to highlight someone moving through life while constantly fearing the future and inevitable death.   

Lucid dream 

Music video 

In La Vida Es Sueño many of the characters struggle to assert their honor and place in society. In the time the play was written, this was the coveted social status making it desired by everyone. Today, identity has become the new honor with everyone out to claim and develop their identity. This inspired us to make a parody on the song “Just a Dream” by Nelly, titled “Life is Just a Dream”, a play on the actual title. We changed the lyrics to present the major themes from the play and demonstrate the ways they have evolved into today’s society. Segismundo struggles throughout the play to find his place, just like many people do today, making him a strong example. Additionally, Rosalia spends the entirety of the play trying to reclaim her honor after losing it, mirroring the struggles of people who feel they are without an identity. The Spanish quotes are ones from the play that we found especially meaningful. The format of a music video serves as a creative and modern way to spread the themes of the golden age today!

Recuerdo mío

Video Art

I decided to write a monologue that reinterprets the sixth sonnet from El perro del hortelano by Lope de Vega, where one of the play’s protagonists, Diana, asks her emotions to consolidate the tension she feels between maintaining her honor and wanting to pursue her love for Teodoro. Drawing from the poetic and structural elements of Diana’s sonnet, I wrote a monologue of my own where I also invoke my feelings and speak directly to them. However, unlike Diana’s sonnet, I reminisce about my summer before attending my first semester of college and address the notion of leaving behind the past.

I also incorporate the themes presented in Segismundo’s second soliloquy from La vida es sueño by Pedro Calderón de la Barca by making comparisons between my memories and the idea of life as a dreamlike state. By taking only the keyframes of the recordings, I made the videos appear fragmented to resemble the hazy effect of recollecting a memory. Furthermore, I omitted color from the videos and placed them in a non-sequential order to further depict my recordings as visual representations of my recollection of events and more accurately portray how I perceive these memories.

An ode to living (truthfully)

Video Art

In "El Monstruo de Los Jardines" by Don Pedro Calderon de la Barca, an important event is when Achilles accepts his destiny after pleading with his mother, Thetis, to let him live a normal, mortal life. I chose to reflect both the weight of generational expectations and individual destiny as well as how these impact our choices in life. This piece is a  reimagining of Achilles' defiant spirit, and applies it to the desires that people experience in their everyday lives. It takes the idea of living for one's self and not for others, and molds it to showcase resistance in the name of personal fulfillment. Snippets from their dialogue in the first act are used to weave a narrative of individualism, shown through paper stop motion and digital animation.

Addiction 

Video Art

BAsed on Lope de Vega - Soneto CXXVI. It is a description of the emotions and feelings of those struggling with addiction. 

Life is Just a Dream

Music Video

In La Vida Es Sueño many of the characters struggle to assert their honor and place in society. In the time the play was written, this was the coveted social status making it desired by everyone. Today, identity has become the new honor with everyone out to claim and develop their identity. This inspired us to make a parody on the song “Just a Dream” by Nelly, titled “Life is Just a Dream”, a play on the actual title. We changed the lyrics to present the major themes from the play and demonstrate the ways they have evolved into today’s society. Segismundo struggles throughout the play to find his place, just like many people do today, making him a strong example. Additionally, Rosalia spends the entirety of the play trying to reclaim her honor after losing it, mirroring the struggles of people who feel they are without an identity. The Spanish quotes are ones from the play that we found especially meaningful. The format of a music video serves as a creative and modern way to spread the themes of the golden age today!