Featured Short Films:

GREENWASH
GREENWASH is a visual poem that critiques the commercialized “green” movement, uncovering the ironies of an environmental activism that, instead of promoting sustainability, is caught up in exploitation and overconsumption. The narrative of this short film delves into the contradictions between the proclaimed environmental values and the actual practices of those leading the movement, highlighting the cognitive dissonance that prevails today.

GENTRIFIED
This short film addresses the problems of gentrification in Latin America, where cultural erosion and economic exploitation driven by migration and mass tourism transform urban and rural landscapes. Perhaps the most important of all, Gentrified reveals how local traditions and natural environments are commodified to satisfy the demands of wealthy tourists, often at the expense of the local population. Made and produced in Costa Rica, the short film presents a stark reflection on cultural dispossession.

KINGDOM
KINGDOM explores the impact of free will and inherited trauma on the lives of individuals, especially the very young. Through a mix of photorealistic and digital animation, this short film shows how children born in contexts of war or social conflict are shaped by invisible but powerful structures that affect their perceptions of the world. The short film questions the extent to which our decisions are really free from social conditioning.

JUXTAPOSITIONS
By means of contrasting images, JUXTAPOSITIONS addresses social inequality, exploring the gap between the rich and the poor, between those who have access to resources and those who live in extreme poverty. In contrast, through the juxtaposition of everyday situations of different social classes, this short film presents a reflection on the abysmal differences that persist in our globalized society.

Project Objectives and Social Impact

The project is defined as an exploration not only of deep social issues, but also of the potential of artificial intelligence in filmmaking. Through its innovative approach, the series seeks to open a space for viewers to reflect on the problems facing the modern world, from the climate crisis to forced migration. Beyond that, the project seeks to inspire other filmmakers and artists to use AI as a tool to democratize artistic production, allowing independent creators to bring to life visions that would otherwise be unattainable due to budgetary constraints.

The short films, considered “visual poems”, attempt to generate deep introspection, inviting viewers to reflect on the contradictions and tensions inherent in our contemporary world.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Kinematic Creation

One of the most innovative aspects of Human Concepts is its use of generative AI as a creative tool. Filmmaker Andrés Bronnimann, who assumed the roles of producer, screenwriter and director, has integrated advanced technologies such as Runway ML, Luma Labs, Kling, Haiper and MidJourney to create the visuals. This approach not only revolutionizes the production process, but allows infinite flexibility in creating images that previously existed only in the imagination of artists. AI facilitates the creation of visual sequences and animations that, if produced using traditional methods, would have required millions of dollars in resources and equipment.

The process of creating the short films begins with scriptwriting and the conceptualization of visual metaphors, followed by the generation of images based on accurate textual descriptions. This footage is then edited and curated by Bronnimann to convey the desired message, a process that combines creativity, technical skill and a deep connection to the subject matter.

Acknowledgements and Festival Reception

So far, more than 30 international festivals have selected the project, among them Greenwash, Gentrified and Kingdom as the most recognized. The series has participated in prestigious events such as the Evolution Mallorca Film Festival (Spain), the 14th Annual Video Art & Experimental Film Festival (USA) and the Drama International Short Film Festival (Greece), among others.

Aside from that, he has received several awards, including the Cinematic Singularity Award at BAIFF and the Best Video-Creation at the Girona International Film Festival.

In other words, Human Concepts represents a milestone in experimental filmmaking and visual storytelling. Through its innovative use of artificial intelligence and its exploration of pressing social issues, the series not only challenges cinematic conventions, but also offers a profound reflection on the values, beliefs and contradictions that mark our times. With a unique aesthetic and provocative narrative approach, Human Concepts invites the audience to question the world we build and imagine a better one.

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The Early Days of Telephony

In the 1880s, Costa Ricans began to learn about the existence of the telephone as a means of communication. Although at first it seemed unattainable, in 1886 the first people began to ask the government for permits to develop telephone service in the country. Owning a telephone became a symbol of social status.

First Concession

Luis Batres García Granados, who was also responsible for the illumination of San José, was one of the first to promote the telephone in Costa Rica. Despite initial doubts about its usefulness, it was thanks to his efforts that, in 1887, Silas W. Hasting obtained the first telephone concession. This allowed for the installation of the first 50 telephones in San José and the establishment of a telephone exchange in the capital.

While the service was expanding, several companies made efforts to make it more accessible in San José and the main cities. Telephone exchanges served until 10 p.m., and an employee was left on duty to answer emergency calls. By 1918, the Telephone Company, directed by Felipe J. Alvarado, offered service to most customers in the country.

History of Telephony in Costa Rica: Selected List of Members

Around that time, access to the telephone was very limited and reserved for well-known families, including coffee growers, businessmen, doctors, lawyers and politicians. Some prominent members included figures such as Otilio Ulate, Rafael Iglesias and Federico Tinoco, who were identified with simple telephone numbers.

From its beginnings to becoming an essential service, the history of telephony reflects how the country has evolved and adopted new technologies to improve communication among its inhabitants.

The Communication Research Center of the University of Costa Rica (Cicom UCR) published the II Report on the use of digital platforms in Costa Rica 2024, revealing that TikTok has reached 45% of use, especially among young people with secondary education.

Indeed, the short and visually appealing videos on TikTok capture our attention and generate a dopamine release, providing pleasure and reward to the brain. The platform is a space for personal and artistic expression, fostering users’ authenticity and empowerment. This can improve self-esteem and confidence.

However, excessive use of TikTok can lead to overexposure, distraction from other areas of life, anxiety and dissatisfaction due to constant comparison with others.

TikTok is a powerful tool for disseminating information and creating trends that impact our culture and preferences.

Although the platform has experienced significant growth, its excessive use can contribute to mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, and affect the perception of the body. In addition, fragmented content can impair attention span and concentration.

Tiktok And Gender Roles

Social networks are fundamental in the daily life, leisure and school environment of young people. In this way, TikTok influence the construction of their identities and socialization, especially in gender issues.

These platforms transmit knowledge, values and behaviors that shape subjectivities and identities, often replicating patriarchal patterns.

On social networks, identities can be “window dressing” or artificial. Although TikTok prohibits violence and harassment, some studies warn of risks such as dissociation between the real and virtual self, public exposure and sexual harassment of young women. In addition, women are often objectified, hypersexualized and subordinated, with vexatious messages.

The Audiovisual Council of Catalonia (CAC) has warned about the normalization of sexist behavior and subtle forms of gender violence in social networks. The videos analyzed reinforce stereotypes of beauty and gender roles that perpetuate inequalities, promoting the idea that men are the provider and women must be maintained due to a historical debt.

How can we explain that decades of feminist struggles later, we can return to the old steps?

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Thursday, May 30 – 7:00 PM.

The Invisible Life of Eurydice Gusmão by Karim Aïnouz .

Fiction, 2019.

Winner of the Un Certain Regard award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the latest feature from prolific Brazilian auteur Karim Aïnouz (Madame Satã), set in mid-century Rio de Janeiro, is a sprawling melodrama about feminine resilience. As they struggle to realize their dreams, their bond is tested by the test of time, keeping alive the hope of being reunited again. Though they struggle to realize their dreams, their bond is tested by the test of time, keeping alive the hope of reuniting again. Rating: 15+

Preámbulo Presents the Series “Forms: Melodrama”

Friday, May 31 – 7:00 PM

The Macaluso Sisters by Emma Dante.

Fiction, 2020

Five sisters in bustling Palermo share a home marked by the passage of time and the experiences they have lived through. Through the different stages of their lives, these women face challenges and celebrate unbreakable family bonds. Rating: Ages 12 and up.

Saturday June 1st – 4:00 PM

Imitation of Life de Douglas Sirk

Fiction, 1959

Lora Meredith, a widowed actress, and her teenage daughter strike up an unexpected friendship with Annie, a black woman hired as a maid. As these women’s lives intertwine, love, loss and identity are woven into a thrilling melodrama. Rating: For all audiences.

Saturday, June 1st – 7:00 PM

All that Heaven Allows de Douglas Sirk

Fiction, 2023

A high-society widow finds love in an unexpected place: the arms of her handsome gardener. However, their romance faces the scrutiny of society and the resistance of her family, defying social conventions and ingrained prejudices. Rating: For all audiences.

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In a world where access to potable water is increasingly precarious, Costa Rica emerges as a bright example. But behind the apparent abundance, however, lies a complex web of challenges and risks that threaten the quality of the vital resource. The question that arises is obvious: How is the quality of water in Costa Rica?

Access & Privilege

The phrase “every drop counts” takes on a profound meaning in these times when access to clean water is a rare privilege. Turning on the tap and finding clean, accessible water is a luxury that not everyone enjoys. This is a luxury that not everyone enjoys. In Costa Rica, however, 91.2% of the population has access to quality, safe, potable water. Only a few countries can match this achievement.

Despite progress, crucial challenges remain. Education and sanitation are two fundamental pillars that require urgent attention. Dr. Darner Mora, director of the National Water Laboratory of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA), stresses that the weakness lies in the lack of awareness of the importance of sanitation and hygiene.

Aqueducts treated by conventional methods (flocculation and chemical coagulation, decantation and filtration), which include disinfection, are supplied from surface sources and
those aqueducts in which disinfection is the only treatment are supplied from subway sources, generally of very good quality. The potability and non-potability of the aqueducts, according to the LNA/AyA study, was based on compliance or non-compliance
with the regulations of the “Drinking Water Quality Regulations” and the LNA’s own criteria
measured through sampling and microbiological and physical-chemical analyses in the water sources, storage tanks and distribution networks of each aqueduct in the national territory, carried out in campaigns distributed by region.

Status of Coverage and Quality of Water for Human Consumption in Costa Rica

Public Health Determinants

Drinking water quality is an essential component of public health. However, Costa Rica has lagged behind in sanitation, relying on septic tanks for approximately 74% of the population. This approach, while not necessarily negative, requires rigorous monitoring to avoid contamination of rivers and seas.

The AyA, as the governing and executing agency in water matters, plays a crucial role. Through programs such as the Ecological Blue Flag and the Sanitary Quality Seal, it promotes the surveillance and protection of water resources. But there is still much to be done in terms of education and awareness-raising.

Challenges ahead

Although Costa Rica excels in water potability, sanitation and hygiene are areas of concern. Lack of infrastructure and a shortage of wastewater treatment pose risks to public health. The future availability of the resource is also threatened by climate change and deforestation.

Regardless, water quality in Costa Rica is a national treasure that requires protection and preservation. Even though achievements have been made, challenges persist and demand concerted action by government, civil society and international agencies. Ensuring access to clean water, promoting sanitation and fostering education are crucial steps towards a sustainable and prosperous future. Ultimately, caring for and preserving water is not only a responsibility, but a moral imperative for present and future generations.

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Artificial intelligence is a controversial topic worldwide and many issues arise from it. The visual arts and contemporary art have not lagged behind and have rather addressed this debate.

In this area, ethical questions have been raised about the use of artists’ images to feed neural networks without their consent. Discussions have also touched on how to rethink the idea of originality and creativity in a world mediatized by the generation of images using these digital media.

Digital Exhibition

Costa Rican curator Alfredo Arévalo Rodríguez wants to bring these discussions to Costa Rica through his participation in the sixth edition of the Wrong Biennale.

It is a multicultural and decentralized international biennal. A global reference in the art scene and has received multiple international awards such as the SOIS Culture 2019 and the honorable mention of the European Commission S+T+ARTS, 2020 award. In their own words:

The Wrong is a melting pot of cultures, styles and mediums for established, emerging and underrepresented artists to explore creativity and digital culture in a positive and constructive way, in order to foster a more inclusive and diverse digital art scene and encourage artistic growth and experimentation.

The curator, Alfredo Arévalo is a student of the master’s degree in philosophy of culture: “digital technology and contemporary culture” at Moscow State University. He has already co-curated two exhibitions in Moscow in 2021 and 2022, one of which included a delegation of Costa Rican artists. He also curated an international exhibition in Mexico City in 2023 that also took place in Florence and Moscow.

Wrong Biennale in Costa Rica

The exhibition, which will premiere on February 9, will take place at the F de Imagen gallery, located in Barrio Amón. It will be part of the Wrong Biennale.

In this case, Arévalo proposes to a group of 21 artists of 12 nationalities (Costa Rica, Mongolia, China, South Korea, Russia, Kazakhstan, Peru, Mexico, Lithuania, Italy, Great Britain and Germany) a visual experiment with artificial intelligence. The experiment seeks strategies to “rewire” neural networks and enable their use to expand the artists’ creative means.

The exploration consisted in the use of the artificial intelligence tool of exactly.ai, whose results can be interpreted as authentic works of a digital alchemy, which rethink the interaction of post-internet art with new technologies and its most recent aesthetic quests.

Exactly.ai

Exactly is an advanced generative Artificial Intelligence platform that uses machine learning to allow artists to be able to create their own artificial intelligence model by feeding the AI with just 10 images of their own work. This facilitates the process of playing with new ideas or applying the artists’ style to many different subjects and contexts.

In addition, Exactly is a tool committed to artists and assures them that their images will not be used without their consent.

The exhibition will end in mid-March and viewers can expect a heterogeneous and innovative exhibition. Both for the themes it touches, for the visual media it explores, and for an innovative assembly approach, in which F de imagen played an important role.

F de Imagen is a space that presents itself as a point for reflection, experimentation, creation and exhibition, in a world dominated by the image and in constant technological transformation, and a gallery that has been gaining an important place in the Costa Rican art scene with very interesting and innovative exhibitions.

This will be a unique and unusual experience for the Costa Rican contemporary art scene.

Sensorial Sunsets and Digital Alchemy

Last January 22, a bad taste and smell in the water was reported in certain sectors of northeastern San José. In fact, in the cantons of Tibás, Moravia and Goicoechea, the water had begun to smell and taste like gasoline.

After the first reports to the AyA (Acueductos y Alcantarillados), complaints continued on social networks during the following days. It was not until Thursday, January 25 that authorities including the Ministry of Health confirmed that the water was contaminated with a hydrocarbon.

To this day, the Ministry of Health and Aya’s personnel do not know the chemical contaminating the water and the reason why this has occurred. This polluted water is reaching more than 100,000 people in San José and it is recommended not to consume it or use it to prepare food or for personal hygiene. Boiling it is also not recommended as it does not change the situation.

What has been done about it?

While investigations continue, the government’s solution is the distribution of water in tanker trucks that deliver water to the main streets of the affected cantons.

Experts from AyA and the Ministry of Health are conducting intensive sampling, subway contamination studies, and inspection and analysis of water sources. In addition, they are trying to identify alternative water sources and infrastructure improvements in the area.

For Miguel Guillén, secretary of the National Liberation Party, President Rodrigo Chaves must take responsibility and make decisions about the officials who failed.

Es fundamental que el presidente Rodrigo Chaves dé la cara, se ponga al frente de la crisis sanitaria y de abastecimiento de agua que ha estado afectando a miles de familias costarricenses en San José. Ni la ministra ni el presidente ejecutivo del AYA han sido capaces de asegurar a tiempo la salud de los costarricenses. Desde el PLN, le solicitamos al presidente responsabilidad, actitud de miras, que se concentre en los problemas nacionales que afectan a los costarricenses y que lidere las crisis y, por supuesto, que establezca las responsabilidades de los funcionarios irresponsables que no han sabido cumplir con su deber. El acceso al agua potable es un derecho fundamental.

Miguel Guillén

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The Wong Kar Wai retrospective begins Thursday, January 11 at 7 p.m. with the following screenings:

In the Mood for Love : January 11th

A screening of Hong Kong, 2000. The story is set in Hong Kong, 1962, where Chow, editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, strikes up a deep friendship with Li-zhen, a young woman whose husband is constantly traveling. With unexpected plot twists, the two will discover surprising secrets about their respective partners. The film is suitable for ages 12 and up.

2046 : friday, january 12

Hong Kong, 2004. A writer, initially focused on the future, plunges into a journey that reveals interwoven stories of a mysterious train bound for the year 2046. Suitable for ages 18 and older.

Chungking Express : saturday, january 13th

Hong Kong, 1994. Two passionate love stories unfold in Hong Kong’s vibrant tourist district of Tsimhatsui. From the fleeting encounter between a cop in a love crisis and an enigmatic drug dealer to the unique romance between a lonely police officer and a young waitress. A cinematic experience not to be missed. For ages 15 and up.

We invite you to join us for this unique cinematic weekend with the Wong Kar Wai Retrospective at the Gómez Miralles hall of the Centro de Cine.

Admission is free to all film lovers.

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Unique Visual Narratives: Feminine Creativity at its Best.

On December 2023, the Museo Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia will host Fire in Art. The exhibition, which will run from December 1-30, goes beyond the simple contemplation of brilliant works. It seeks to be a unique window into the emotions, experiences and thoughts that women artists find difficult to express in their professional environments.

On the other hand, the exhibition will feature 10 outstanding artists in goldsmithing and 5 masters in the art of glass. According to Aleyda Bonilla Restrepo, exhibitor and organizer, the exhibition will showcase female creativity at its best, turning each piece into a unique visual narrative.

The inauguration is scheduled for Thursday, November 30, 2023, at the Museo Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. This event will be an opportunity to listen to a moving dialogue between the works and the public.

Opening Details:

Fecha: Jueves 30 de noviembre de 2023.
Hora: 7:00 p.m.
Lugar: Museo Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia.
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Art, Emotion and Connection.

By using art, “Fire in Art” seeks to give a voice to professional women, allowing them to tell their stories through silver and glass. According to Bonilla Restrepo, the exhibition will be more than a conventional exhibition. Either way, it will be an experience that will leave a lasting impression on those who seek the connection between creativity and emotion.

So, join this unique exhibition where fire becomes the catalyst for expression, transforming the Museo Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia into a captivating setting from December 1-30, 2023. Fire in Art promises to be an authentic emotional journey, an experience that will resonate in the memory of those who seek beauty and depth in art.

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Film Cycle: selection of movies

• Thursday, November 9: Nobody’s Watching

Nico, an argentine actor, decides to try his luck in New York, but soon discovers that his physical appearance doesn’t fit, as others perceive him as too Caucasian to look Latino’ and with ‘too thick an accent to look American. So Nico ends up working as a caregiver for Theo, a baby to whom he will unexpectedly become attached.

• Thursday, November 16: Billy Elliot

In 1984, during a miners’ strike in County Durham, clashes break out between pickets and police. Tony and his father are among the most exalted miners. His father has insisted that Billy, his youngest son, take boxing lessons. But although the boy has good footwork, he has no punch. One day at the gym, Billy observes Mrs. Wilkinson’s ballet class, a stern woman who encourages him to participate. From that moment on, Billy will be passionately devoted to dance.

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• Thursday, November 23: Shame

Brandon, a handsome young New Yorker, has serious problems controlling and enjoying his hectic sex life. Obsessed with sex, he spends his days looking at pornographic magazines, hiring prostitutes and having sporadic relationships with single women in Manhattan. Suddenly, one day, his younger sister Sissy shows up at his house with the intention of staying at his apartment for a few days.

• Thursday, November 30: I’m not an easy man

Everything changes overnight for confirmed bachelor Damien, who wakes up in a matriarchal society and falls in love with Alexandra. Now he must work to decipher the inverted codes of this new world.

This selection of films will address various themes, including care, sexuality, privilege, experience in public spaces, violence, gender roles and mandates. As such, it seeks to focus on social structures, providing a broad perspective on the complexity of contemporary masculinity.

The Carthaginian Culture Center is located 100 meters west of the Municipality of Cartago and can be easily located on navigation applications such as Waze or Google Maps.

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