Skip to main content
We Were No Desert film image; man with arm resting on his head

We Were No Desert

Nunca fuimos un desierto

MODES

North American Premiere

Taking an installation by Argentine textilsts Chiachio & Giannone as a point of departure, director Agustina Comedi (Playback, MODES ‘19) stages a queered rendition of a strict national folk dance, the “Pericón.” This new choreography opposes its traditional steps and resists the inherent ideology of conquest baked into the notion of ‘homeland’.

 

Community Partner

Directors
Credits
Country of Origin

Argentina

Year

2024

Language

In Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
12 min
Experimental & Avant Garde Human Rights & Social Justice LGBTQIA2S+ Shorts Women Directors
PAN Contenidos

Credits & Director

Producer

Sandra Rojas

Screenwriter

Agustina Comedi

Cinematography

Benjamín Ellenberger

Editor

Ezequiel Salinas

Original Music

Violeta García

Agustina Comedi headshot; We Were No Desert director

Agustina Comedi

Agustina Comedi (1986, Argentina). Scriptwriter and filmmaker. She holds a degree in Literature. In 2017, her debut film Silence is a Falling Body (2017) premiered at IDFA. Her short film, Playback (2019) was part of the Berlinale Shorts Competition in 2020, where it won the Teddy Award. It was also awarded Best Short Film in the Mar del Plata Film Festival and Entrevues Belfort. She is currently working on her second and third films.

Photo by Catalina Bartolomé

 

Chiachio & Giannone joint headshot; We Were No Desert directors

Chiachio & Giannone

Chiachio & Giannone are Argentine visual artists. Leo Chiachio (1969, Buenos Aires) and Daniel Giannone (1964, Córdoba). Their work translates the knowledge of painting into the field of textile arts and it is framed within political debates about new family models and LGBTQ+ issues. Their work has been part of national and international exhibitions. Among these, The Emilio Caraffa Fine Arts Museum (Córdoba, 2014), the Museum of Art and Design (NY, 2014), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2015), Cité International de la Tapisserie d’Aubusson (2016) MOLAA, California (2019) and Antre Peaux, Bourges (2022) among others.

 

Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre

Akashi
Akashi film image; woman looking out from the back window of a car

Akashi

Dir. Mayumi Yoshida
105 min

In Mayumi Yoshida’s tender drama, struggling artist Kana journeys to Tokyo to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she reconnects with her childhood love and stumbles across a family secret that prompts her to reconsider her place in the world.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
The History of Concrete
The History of Concrete film image; man smoothing just-poured concrete sidewalk

The History of Concrete

Dir. John Wilson
101 min

After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sunless

Dir. Chris Marker
103 min

Chris Marker's dazzling and discursive essay film ranges across Japan, Africa, San Francisco, Iceland, politics, philosophy, ritual, movies and memory. It's a film for the permanently curious.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
NAZA
Naza film image; two people sitting in a foggy night with skyscrapers in the background

NAZA

Dir. Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
80 min

NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

I Am Not a Witch

Dir. Rungano Nyoni
93 min

Rungano Nyoni's acclaimed debut feature is a visually striking satire about a 9-year-old orphan accused of witchcraft in contemporary Zambia. Screening in the latest African Cinema Now! series, The Witch at the Edge of the Screen.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Queen at Sea
Queen at Sea film image; two people staring at one another

Queen at Sea

Dir. Lance Hammer
121 min

An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.

Image: © Seafaring

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre