La voluntaria The Volunteer

About the film

Structured as a drama about human beings against the system, Nely Reguera‘s second feature film strikes at the heart of the Western consumerist mentality Marisa (Carmen Machi), a recently retired doctor, decides to travel as a volunteer to a Greek refugee camp where, in her opinion, they need people exactly like her. Arriving there, it becomes clear that she has nothing to do with the others. When she meets little Ahmed, the boundaries between needing to care and feeling useful begin to blur.

Carmen Machi authentically expresses with complexity the ambiguity of her heroine, her hesitations, and feelings of futility, providing a powerful image of the impasse which emotional unavailability causes in humans.

This film will be preceded by the short film: ZAHRA
dir: Noemí & Now You See Me Moria & Konstantina Levi / Netherlands-Spain-Germany-Irán-Turkey/ 12 mins / 2022

Zahra is a Hazara painter who had to flee Iran with her husband and three children. European authorities have illegally pushed them back six times, twice in the water and four times on land. They have been kidnapped by smugglers because there are no safe ways to flee. They have been stuck in Turkey for six months already. Her husband had an accident and he cannot work. Zahra is working with her 11 years old daughter in a sewing place to survive. All the videography is done by Zahra who is a talented painter. Pushbacks are happening daily and many people are been killed because no, it’s not an accident to remove the engine and fuel from a boat and pushback the boat,

Spanish image editor Noemí, currently residing in The Netherlands, is the driving force behind the art and activist collective Now You See Me Moria. They were asked to create a video essay for Mijke de Jong’s Along the Way, after their exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum.

The video essay was commissioned by Critics Choice from International Film Festival Rotterdam
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with writer/critic/thinker Dana Linssen and Jan Pieter Ekker (chief of the art section of Het Parool)

“A film that immerses us in the reality of a real refugee camp to face us without a discursive desire. The best: Carmen Machi. ”


— FOTOGRAMAS

Festivals & Awards Winner: Official selection Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2022

Stills from the movie

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