Award Winning Filmmaker – Experimental Documentary – A Short Film in Madrid

A short film directed by Award Winning Filmmaker Kostas Petsas. An experimental short documentary shot in Madrid that has been screened and awarded in film festivals all over the world. A personal glimpse into Madrid, an experimental urban cityscape, an ode to life through a dance. “Ciudad de mi corazón” is an attempt to do a short experimental documentary in the form of what could be considered as “street cinematography”. Press play and enjoy the short film right above. Then keep on reading about its’ international film festival run.

Experimental Documentary Story

This short visual poetry was written and filmed in one week in the city of Madrid. Film original language is Spanish, but it has been translated to many languages for official screenings in cinemas in many countries. You can choose to have subtitles in English, Italian, Portuguese, Greek or Ukrainian.

It all started with a poem on a paper. I wrote this text the day of my birthday in Madrid, on my first trip ever to this wonderful city. I wandered around the streets of Madrid with my camera for one week trying to feel and capture the vibe of this beautiful location.

At first, the short film could appear to be a simple travel documentary in the Spanish capital. But it goes well beyond this rather superficial aspect. The travel and wandering aspect of the destination filmmaker is used as a storytelling element to make the film evolve as a personal ode to life and to love. It expresses a nostalgic point of view for the time passing by so quickly and for the ephemeral aspect of our nature as human beings.

Connecting with local people and depicting their stories was not an easy task, as I don’t speak Spanish. It eventually came down to the essence of human connection. Which can be as simple as a look, gesture or facial expression. I have witnessed a love serenade under the rain, and spent three hours in the street, trying to understand the story of portuguese anthropologist João Pedro Galhano Alves while he tried to share with me his philosophy in a mix of French, Portuguese and Spanish. He explained to me that he spent almost 1 year sleeping in the streets of Madrid as a homeless and shared with me a copy of his book.

Regarding the cinematic language, I have used filming and editing techniques that I use regularly in my wedding films as a destination wedding videographer. Such as, for instance, storytelling curve evolution, jump cuts to create emotional tension, or ultra slow motion filming to achieve a dream like effect.

I feel really blessed that this film gave me the opportunity to be an Award Winning Filmmaker and to assist personally to the screenings in many film festivals around the world.

Award Winner Filmmaker

– Best Short Film Blue Star Award at the Portugal International Film Festival
– Best Foreign Short Film at the London Independent Film Awards
– Best Europe Film at the European Cinematography Awards
– Best Super Short Documentary at the Berlin Flash Film Festival
– Grand Award at Cinema Poetica 2017
– Special Jury Award at the Germany International Film Festival
– Best Experimental short film award in the 4th Montevideo World Film Festival (Montecine)
– Best Cinematography at Under 5 min Film Festival 
– Best Experimental Film Odysseus Award at the London Greek Film Festival 2018 
– Best Editing at the Athens Short Film Festival 2018 
– Best Short Documentary at the European Independent Film Awards 2017 
– Best man Filmmaker and Best Cinematography at the Barcelona Planet Film Festival
– Gold Lion Award at the Barcelona International Film Festival 2018
– Festival Award at the 5th international Documentary Film Festival of Ierapetra
– Best Short Documentary and Best Poster at the 5 Continents International Film Festival
– Best Travel Film at the Global Short Film Awards Cannes 2018 
– Audience Award at the 12 Month Film Festival
– Experimental of the Μonth at The Monthly Film Festival (TMFF)
– Best Short Documentary and Best Edit at the Frostbite International Film Festival
– Best Editor at the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival (DMOFF)
– Best Avant-Garde Film and Best Editing Bronze Award at Global Independent Film Awards 2018 
– Best Short, Best Edit and Best Original Idea Nominee at the Top Indie Film Awards 2017
– Special Mention Prize at the Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards
– Honorable Mention for Best Inspirational Film at the Top Shorts Film Festival 
– Honorable Mention for Best Inspirational Film at the Los Angeles Film Awards

Reviews from Film Festivals

– “‘City of my heart’ comes with our highest recommendations for its extraordinary capacity of visual lyricizing and the director’s proficient skill to turn emotions to screen” 
The Monthly Film Festival

– “Everything regarding the visual spectrum was great, and we admit it: this may be one of the best experimental shorts we’ve had in the past couple of months” 
Feel The Reel International Film Festival

– “The way the director managed to give random citizens enough space to show a side of their life in the city without ending up with a one-hour short shows pure skill, not only as a filmmaker, but as a storyteller as well” 
Largo Film Awards

– “The short, though extremely minimalist, and experimental in form, is a well rounded narrative of poetry surrounding Madrid” 
The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards

– “This short film is very well achieved because it combines content and form very well, where nothing is left over or hindering, forming an indissoluble whole” 
Five Continents International Film Festival

If you are interested, you can read more information on the film festival run of the short documentary on the facebook page of the film. Thank you for checking this out.

If you feel a connection with my narrative approach and with my stories, I would be delighted to discuss with you further about the possibility of working together. Do you want an Award Winning Filmmaker to tell your own story in the most authentic, sincere and creative way? Just get in touch with me today and we will make the magic happen.