Elena Pardo - Pulsos Subterráneos / Underground Pulses

"Pulsos Subterráneos / Underground Pulses", 40 min, 16mm film loops w. sound.

An expanded cinema performance that observes and listens to visible and underground territories, both physical and intangible, in two regions of Mexico that currently experience or resist mining activities: Zacatecas and Oaxaca.

Pulsos Subterráneos / Underground Pulses is a subjective account of communities’ resistance to corporate mining and their defense of territory, life and culture. Calpulálpam, Ixtlán, San José del Progreso, San Pedro and San Pablo Ayutla in Oaxaca; Vetagrande, Salverna and Concepción del Oro in Zacatecas: these communities have very different experiences. For example, Calpulálpam has a long tradition of organized struggle that has allowed them to oppose the reopening of a mine that operated for more than 200 years. On the other hand, the community of Vetagrande, where mines have operated since the late 1500s, is now on the brink of collapse due to unprecedented large-scale mining activity.

During years of traveling between Oaxaca and Zacatecas, she weaved a net of bonds and friendships. These, in turn, grew into collaborations that spread and multiplied in a variety of projects. Pulsos Subterráneos / Underground Pulses began filming in 2019. It was born from observation and interest in these two places.

Why do some communities manage to resist the incursion of this and other extractivist industries imposed by the Mexican State? What is at stake? This project seeks to understand the struggle to defend the territory. It does so through the stories its inhabitants tell and the experience its landscapes evoke.

Elena Pardo:

Visual artist and director of documentary films, experimental cinema, and animated movies. One of her lines of work is exploring the possibilities of photochemical film material— preserving and capturing images, working in a laboratory, and projecting a variety of formats. Since 2005 she has taken part in the expanded cinema collective Trinchera Ensamble.
She is also co-founder and current director of Laboratorio Experimental de Cine [Experimental Film Laboratory] (LEC), an art project that surfaced in 2013. LEC was born in response to the need to enhance a community of filmmakers and audiences interested in experimental cinema. LEC engages in the dissemination, production, educational activities, and programming of content in different film formats. Elena also collaborates in audiovisual training programs in Oaxaca and Mexico City.

Polar Film Lab is a membership collective providing space and community around analogue film in Tromsø, northern Norway. We supply working facilities, and hold film screenings, masterclasses and workshops to improve the opportunities for artists working with film in the North, and to expand the knowledge around analogue and experimental film both within and outwith the arts community. It runs with a ‘do-it-yourself’ focus, aiming to bring more people into direct contact with analogue film.

The project is generously supported by: Kulturrådet - Arts Council Norway, Sparebank1 Nord-Norge and Tromsø kommune