Marine Hugonnier
La Vijanera, 201916mm film25'
The Vijanera is a winter masquerade celebrated in the village of Silió, Cantabria every year on the first Sunday of January. This masquerade displays a strong social critique of local and international politics through songs called “The Coplas”. Every year these satirical verses are written by the village to form a common voice.
The celebration features the birth of the New Year while the symbolic chase and subsequent killing of a bear on the main square of the village, represents the dismantling of all figures of power. This film constitutes a research about the transfiguration of power and studies the relationship between the visual form of this masquerade, its social imaginary and function. It is an account of the voice of this village and an attempt to capture a European political sensibility and its questioning of democracy and freedom.
