After fifteen editions, we started again. Because every year is a new beginning. The sixteenth edition is born with the same idea that brought us here: to continue showing auteur cinema, independent cinema, films that take risks, that challenge, that move us, and that force us to see things differently.
We’re called many ways: the “dea,” the “da,” the “festival d’autor”… But D’A is more than just a name. It’s a way of doing things. It’s a community. It’s the collective work of a diverse but equal, horizontal team. Here, we don’t believe in hierarchies; we believe in long conversations, passionate discussions, and the shared conviction that cinema matters.
If the D’A holds the place it does today, it’s because of the films. Always because of the films. And because of those who make them possible. And because of you, who fill the theatres. More than 27,000 people attended last year: that energy, that murmur before the lights go down, that shared silence, those conversations on the way out… that’s the essence of the festival. Without that encounter, nothing would have the same value.
We can’t see everything, but we can defend something that defines us: diversity. Diversity of perspectives, origins, styles, themes, and sensibilities. A D’A Film Festival that vibrates, that takes risks, that beats stronger every year.
We know that opening a season is never easy. Culture remains fragile and all too often uncertain. But we’re still here. Because we believe that a country needs cinema as much as it needs to reflect on itself.
Enjoy the films. Let yourselves be moved by the stories. Let’s celebrate together this way we have of experiencing and sharing culture.
-Carlos R. Ríos
