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Flamenco without Borders

What is really flamenco? What is the value of belonging to its culture of origin, now that it is practiced all over the world? Is it possible to teach and learn flamenco? Why it is like a faith and is lived with so much fascination?
Flamenco sin Fronteras is a series of documentaries about the special meaning and shades of this unique and universal art, where the director question the protagonists on their beliefs, and about their personal and community identity.
In the first movie, 40 protagonists show the different ways of living flamenco and also its and their contradictions, through live performances, personal testimonies and experiences, in constant tension between traditions and contemporaneity. The movie is a journey made ​​of intense meetings with Andalusian, Spanish and foreigner artists and fans, who reveal themselves in various contexts, from big events like Jerez and Pamplona flamenco festivals, to more intimate places like clubs, bars and homes. These protagonists show through their music and a rich debate that flamenco is a living art without borders.

  • Filippo Ciardi
    Director
    Across the Alps, 2016 Cinemambiente festival winner
  • Filippo Ciardi
    Writer
  • with the collaboration of Stefano Liuzzo
    Writer
  • Filippo Ciardi
    Producer
  • more than 40 flamenco artists and fans: see documentary dossier for the complete list
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Flamenco sin Fronteras
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    music, social, cultural, biography, anthropological, ethnomusicology, biopic, ethnic
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 44 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 16, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Spain
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    1920x1080 25p high bitrate
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Festival de flamenco de Jerez in a previous rough cut version
    Jerez de La Frontera
    Spain
    March 2, 2016
    pre premiere of a first rough cut version as collateral activity of a flamenco and not cinema festival
  • Ciclo del Instituto Andaluz del Flamenco de Sevilla in a previous rough cut version
    Sevilla
    Spain
    June 15, 2016
    pre premiere of a first rough cut version as collateral activity of a flamenco and not cinema festival
  • Festival de flamenco de Tampere in a previous rough cut version
    Tampere
    Finland
    August 28, 2016
    pre premiere of a first rough cut version as collateral activity of a flamenco and not cinema festival
  • Festival Flamenco on Fire de Pamplona in a previous rough cut version
    Pamplona
    Spain
    August 26, 2016
    pre premiere of a first rough cut version as collateral activity of a flamenco and not cinema festival
  • Festival OFF de flamenco de Jerez in a previous rough cut version
    Jerez
    Spain
    February 21, 2020
    pre premiere of a new rough non definitive cut version
Distribution Information
  • looking for a distributor and self distributed
Director Biography - Filippo Ciardi

Film director and freelance journalist, with a graduation in economics and enterprise management. Movie projects: “Through the Alps”, feature film realized with Giancarlo Bertalero, award as “best Italian documentary” at the 2016 Cinemambiente festival in Turin; short film “Amazónicas” participant in the DocuExprés contest of the festival Alcances 2016 in Cádiz; short film “Lustro de Vino y Alegría” produced by Tabanco Plateros in Jerez; audiovisual series “Io non discrimino” for a project of social cooperatives against labor discrimination; in search of a producer for a documentary about the reconstruction after the earthquake in L'Aquila. As a journalist: reporter for more than 15 years for the weekly magazine Toscana Oggi; videoreportages for the La Stampa newspaper website; reports on wine for the enology magazine Euposia / Italian Wine Journal and on social issues for monthly magazine Altreconomia. Several years work as communication and fundraising coordinator for different NGOs.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

One of my multimedia project is called "Veritá e Visioni", because in italian the word "veritá" is both singular and plural translation for "truth". I think that we can have many truths, or visions of truth, depending on the point of view on the facts, people and issues we observe. So what i try to do in my research as a filmmaker, journalist and storyteller is to collect different "points of view about truths", and so do I in the Flamenco without Borders project. Its objective is to provide a rich and multi-faceted portrait of flamenco nowadays, through the different faces of its protagonists, in the places of origin and evolution of this art. The first documentary shows the richness of the music elements of flamenco, such as singing, dancing, guitar playing, but also its complex subjective, cultural and social aspects. The characters testify that flamenco has continued to be over time a living art, popular in Andalusia and, paraphrasing the various Andalusian cities “de la Frontera”, beyond these so-called geographic and symbolic “frontiers”. The project is a continuous work in progress, as I still live in Andalusia next to the protagonists, and the most recent version of autumn 2020 is still a world premiere. I am also working on a documentary about flamenco outside of Spain, reversing the point of view of the first one of the series.