Bis 31 bis

Partager :

Note of intent

In the context of a relationship built up during previous workshops, the idea of making a documentary was obvious and necessary to me. To tell these young peoples’ story in all its depth and complexity, through their eyes and accounts. The project to demolish the canteen made it even more urgent to make this film. Marginalized even further, these young people find themselves once again without refuge or support. I want to bear witness to this powerful life experience and the involvement of Javier and Caty and others who are working with them.

Synopsis

Javier and Caty live in 31 bis, a slum near Recoleta, one of Buenos Aires’s most elegant neighborhoods. Regarded as an ugly stain on the urban landscape, the state is modifying one of the main roads into the city so that the slum will no longer be visible from the highway, even though this means destroying part of it. Caty and Javier realize that the new road will pass through their canteen, which welcomes and provides food for the “pibes”: people -often drug addicts – who live in containers in the port. Over the years, the canteen has become the only place where these young people find comfort and can, thanks to cultural workshops, envisage reintegrating into society. As the roadwork progress, the containers and the “pibes” disappear. Javier and Caty, concerned about the situation, look for another place to create a refuge for these young people, with no certainty of finding one.

Visual concept

A concept based on Italian neorealism and direct cinema to portray the daily lives of our characters, a collective account borne by individuals. The slum borders an affluent neighborhood revealing a spectacular contrast between wealth and poverty. This visual axis will pass through our story with a focus on the canteen, our characters and their everyday reality. We will film close up, using a minimum of equipment in order to blend in as much as possible with their lives. Our approach will be respectful of them and their dignity.