Mariano Pozzi, an award-winning filmmaker and audio-visual producer from Argentina talks about CHRA

Describe yourself

I am from Buenos Aires Argentina and studied image and sound designing at the University of Buenos Aires. After 10 years of work experience, I am now a filmmaker and audio-visual producer. Besides being involved in a number of cultural events and film festivals here including the Human Rights Film Festival of Buenos Aires for the past eight years, I have been part of the Institute Multimedia DerHumAlc where I am the project developer and technical coordinator.

I always try to include a social impact and human rights angle within my works to empower change. My first fictional film series which won a couple of international film festival prizes is called ‘Migrants Stories’ and highlights immigration in Buenos Aires. My second series ‘Kids Stuff’ which just premiered on the Argentinean streaming platform Cont.AR talks about children’s rights. The goal of this show is to portray the point of view of children in relation to their rights within daily situations. The rights observed include access to education, access to information, the right to be heard, body autonomy and freedom of religion. Furthermore, my new series “Wanted” observes the last dictatorship in Argentina where around 400 children were kidnapped with their identities changed by the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo.

Why did you decide to attend CHRA 2021?

I always look for opportunities to grow my network and my knowledge. When I read about the fact the previous year’s summer school was related to children’s rights I was in the middle of working on Kids Stuff. I felt it was a great opportunity to learn more about children’s rights, and be in Venice during the summer interacting with journalists, filmmakers, and activists while also taking in the Biennale Film Festival. I found out that I could also apply for a scholarship; it was an extraordinary package that was offered.

Describe your experience with the Summer School What did you enjoy most?

It was a great experience overall, meeting people from all over the world, who had different mindsets and skill sets. The course was very well curated and I really liked the fact that there were experts from a wide range of professions - activists, journalists and academics with diverse interests and backgrounds. I learned a lot from them.

What skills and competences do you think you’ve gained from the programme?

One thing that I have gained was the opportunity to network and learn about new work opportunities. One of the participants, a researcher and communications consultant at Protection International mentioned to our cohort at the time that a consultancy video production position was available. I applied and was selected. What an amazing opportunity to collaborate with a fellow peer and make a difference at the same time!

While the multidisciplinary cohort accepted to the summer school resulted in the video and film production lectures being fairly basic for me, the beauty of the multidisciplinary cohort and the diverse academic programme was the fact that it widened my horizons on so many fronts. I not only increased my knowledge and understanding about fieldwork and impact campaigns, among other subjects, but I learnt first-hand about the experiences shared by the lecturers, my fellow students and the film directors from the Festival. It was all extremely valuable.

Were you able to leverage the student network for future professional development?

Yes. The connections made and the people I met at the summer school has enabled me to increase my international collaborations and even land a job. I have stayed in touch with some of my fellow students but it was difficult to bond with the entire group during the course due to the intense and busy schedule. Hopefully, we will see each other soon.

Would you recommend this experience to a friend?

Yes absolutely, 100%.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

At the moment, I am proud of the fact that I am accomplishing a number of projects with very low budgets and a small crew, though it is difficult to have a large social impact with these limitations. In turn, I’d like to bring my work to a higher level and therefore, in 10 years time, I hope to manage projects that will reach a wider, larger audience and have a much greater social impact.