Nothing But The Sun
Original Title: Apenas el Sol
Director: Arami Ullón
Paraguay, Switzerland, 75 minutes, 2020, documentary
Facing the consequences of a violent uprooting, Mateo Sobode Chiqueno has been recording stories, songs, and testimonies of his Ayoreo people since the seventies. In an attempt to preserve fragments of a disappearing culture, Mateo walks across communities in the arid and desolate Paraguayan Chaco region, and registers on cassettes the experiences of other Ayoreo who, like him, were born in the vast forest, free and nomadic, without any contact with white civilization, until religious missionaries forced them to abandon their ancestral territory, their means of subsistence, their beliefs and their home.
Film screening dates: 23.09.2021 — 26.09.2021
Director
Arami Ullón was born in Asunción, in 1978. She lives and works in Switzerland and Paraguay, sharing her time between both places. Her work is strongly focused on Paraguayan reality.
Ullón has been working in the audio-visual field since 1995. She directed two short films: “Ausencia de un nombre propio” (1998) and “Beckon” (2000). Her first feature documentary, “Cloudy Times”(El Tiempo Nublado, 2014) portrays the relationship between the filmmaker and her elderly mother – who suffers from epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. “Cloudy Times” was selected in more than 70 international festivals, including the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland), the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (Czech Republic), the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine de la Habana (Cuba), Visions du Réel (Switzerland) and Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal (Canada). The film in 2014 won the Regards Neufs Award for Best First Film at the documentary film festival Visions du Réel (Switzerland). Also, it was awarded the SIGNIS Prize and Le Prix du Lycéen Documentaire in Cinélatino – Rencontres de Toulouse (2015), it received the Basler Filmpreis for Best Film (2015) and was chosen Best Documentary at the Human RightsFilm Festival of Uruguay “Tenemos que ver” (2016). This documentary was the first Paraguayan entry to the Oscars (2016).
Her second feature documentary “Nothing but the Sun” (Apenas el Sol, 2020), an exploration of the meaning of identity and sense of belonging through the brutal uprooting experience of the Ayoreo people of the Paraguayan Chaco, has celebrated its World Premiere at IDFA (Netherlands), one of the most prestigious documentary festivals in the world. The film has been selected to participate in the Best Feature Film competition and it has also been the opening film for the 2020 IDFA edition.
Selected filmography: Nothing but the Sun (Apenas el Sol, 2020), Cloudy Times (El Tiempo Nublado, 2014), Beckon (2000), Ausencia de un nombre propio (1998)
Ullón has been working in the audio-visual field since 1995. She directed two short films: “Ausencia de un nombre propio” (1998) and “Beckon” (2000). Her first feature documentary, “Cloudy Times”(El Tiempo Nublado, 2014) portrays the relationship between the filmmaker and her elderly mother – who suffers from epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. “Cloudy Times” was selected in more than 70 international festivals, including the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland), the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (Czech Republic), the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine de la Habana (Cuba), Visions du Réel (Switzerland) and Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal (Canada). The film in 2014 won the Regards Neufs Award for Best First Film at the documentary film festival Visions du Réel (Switzerland). Also, it was awarded the SIGNIS Prize and Le Prix du Lycéen Documentaire in Cinélatino – Rencontres de Toulouse (2015), it received the Basler Filmpreis for Best Film (2015) and was chosen Best Documentary at the Human RightsFilm Festival of Uruguay “Tenemos que ver” (2016). This documentary was the first Paraguayan entry to the Oscars (2016).
Her second feature documentary “Nothing but the Sun” (Apenas el Sol, 2020), an exploration of the meaning of identity and sense of belonging through the brutal uprooting experience of the Ayoreo people of the Paraguayan Chaco, has celebrated its World Premiere at IDFA (Netherlands), one of the most prestigious documentary festivals in the world. The film has been selected to participate in the Best Feature Film competition and it has also been the opening film for the 2020 IDFA edition.
Selected filmography: Nothing but the Sun (Apenas el Sol, 2020), Cloudy Times (El Tiempo Nublado, 2014), Beckon (2000), Ausencia de un nombre propio (1998)