POLARIS
O.V. in French, English and Icelandic subtitled in Spanish and English
Hayat, a ship captain, sails through the fascinating landscapes of the Arctic, far from a harsh past in France from which she prefers to distance herself. But when her sister Leila is about to give birth, Hayat rethinks her family ties as well as her own future horizons. Editor and co-writer of Victor Kossakovski's Gunda, Ainara Vera follows the trajectories of two sisters who overcome in their own way the complicated experience of their childhood and prejudices associated with being Arab women. An intimate and yet visually powerful film, this is the only film directed by a Spanish filmmaker screened in ACID, the most heterodox section of the Cannes Film Festival.
Direction: Ainara Vera
Screenplay: Ainara Vera
Cinematography: Ainara Vera, Inuk Silis Høegh
Editing: Ainara Vera, Gladys Joujou
Music: Amine Bouhafa
Sound: Jérémie Halbert
Production: Clara Vuillermoz, Emile Hertling Peronard
Production Company: Point-du-Jour International, Les films du Balibari, Ánorâk Film
Distributor: The Party Film Sales
Internationals Sales: The Party Film Sales
Pamplona, 1985. Ainara Vera studied Audiovisual Communication at the University of Navarra and has a Master’s degree in Creation Documentary at the Pompeu Fabra University. Sertres, her short film debut, premiered at Locarno in 2014. See You Tomorrow God Willing was the artist’s feature film debut, premiered at the Official Section of IDFA in 2017 and was screened and awarded at festivals such as DOK.fest München, DOC NYC, Cartagena de Indias, Punto de Vista and DocsBarcelona. Vera has also worked for six years as first assistant director and co-editor on the last three projects of Victor Kossakovsky: Varicella, Aquarela and Gunda. Polaris is her latest film, which was premiered at Cannes as part of the ACID selection. The director also works as a project consultant and tutor of the writing workshop in the Master’s degree in Creation Documentary of the Pompeu Fabra University.
