Si Pudiera Desear Algo (If I Could Wish for Something)

video, color, 16:9, Spanish & Purépecha spoken, BE/FR/MX/NO, 2021, 68’

English subtitles and German transcript available

screening / on loop during all opening hours:

March 4-5-6-12-13-19-20; April 15-16-17-30 14-20h; May 1 14-18h

About this film, Dora García writes:

The inspiration and point of departure of this film is an old song, written in 1930 by German composer Friedrich Holländer: “Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte”. This song, translated into Spanish as “Si pudiera desear algo” (If I Could Wish for Something), has been in my memory for as long as I can remember. It expresses poetically a very complex concept: that the disappointment of women has been going on for so long, the promise made to them by the revolution has remained for so long unfulfilled, delayed, negated, that the sadness, the vulnerability derived from this feeling of abandonment has been turned into a shelter and a shield, perhaps even a sword.

In sadness, we overcome the temptation to feel victimized and instead use pain as a conduit to recognize another’s suffering, opening the possibility for an encounter with other struggles. With this in mind, I wanted to create a contemporary equivalent of the old song, that could function as a soundtrack to the incredible feminist demonstrations that have been taking place – modifying and appropriating public space and public discourse – in the city of Mexico in the last 5 years. The film follows two paths: one, a collective recollection of images and sounds from these feminist marches in Mexico City; two, the composition, recording and final performance of the film theme song by trans artist La Bruja de Texcoco.

The publication ‘If I Could Wish for Something’ is published by Idea Books.

Principal cinematography: Miriam Ortiz
Camera assistant: Fernanda Vázquez
Additional cinematography: Gisela Castillo, Lilian Cuervo, Luchadoras, Regina López, Esthel Vogrig, Liz Misterio & Una Pardo
Editing: Simon Arazi & Dora García
Editing assistant: Guillermo Mendiguren
Music: Jan Mech
Theme song: “Nostalgia” by La Bruja de Texcoco, 2021
Sound recording: Isis Puente
Sound mix and design: Laszlo Umbreit
Sound mix assistant: Luc Aureille at Le Fresnoy
Color grading: Baptiste Evrard at Le Fresnoy
Credits: Fairuz
Production: Auguste Orts, Olga Rodríguez, Estelle Benazet (Le Fresnoy) & Alaíde Castro Hernández (Antítesis Films)
Produced by: Auguste Orts & Le Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts
With the support of: Le Fresnoy, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Arts Council Norway, The Audio and Visual Fund, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norwegian Artistic Research Programme, Fotogalleriet Oslo & Netwerk Aalst

Dora García (b. 1965, Valladolid, Spain) is an artist, teacher and researcher who lives and works in Barcelona and Oslo. As an artist, she has participated in numerous international art exhibitions including Münster Skulptur Projekte (2007), Venice Biennale (2011, 2013, 2015), Sydney Biennial (2008), São Paulo Biennial (2010), Documenta 13 (2012), Gwangju Biennial (2016), osloBIENNALEN, Art Encounters Timisoara and AICHI Triennial (2019). In 2021 she developed projects in the Fotogalleriet Oslo, Netwerk Aalst, the Mattatoio di Roma, and the Colomboskope Festival in Sri Lanka. Her work is largely performative and deals with issues related to community and individuality in contemporary society, exploring the political potential of marginal positions, paying homage to eccentric characters and to antiheroes, who have often been the center of her films projects, such as The Deviant Majority (2010), The Joycean Society (2013) and Segunda Vez (2018).