MiradasDoc is made up of a festival strand (unspooling from 4-12 March in Guía de Isora, on the island of Tenerife) and a market one (which begins tomorrow, Tuesday 8 March, and continues until the 11^th, as a virtual edition). The director of the gathering, David Baute, unpicks a few key aspects of it for us.

Cineuropa: The MiradasDoc festival and its market turn 15 this year. Are they like twins joined at the hip? Did they grow up together in perfect harmony?
David Baute: Well, yes – since the very beginning, the festival, the market and the training side have been considered one overarching project, so as to enable the different development processes involved in a documentary to have a presence at MiradasDoc. It ranges from the educational part, where the creators gradually flourish and mature, ultimately aspiring to be producers, directors or technicians, to the market, where they bring along their projects in order to develop them and look for funding, trying to secure backing from a TV station or distributor, all the way, finally, to the festival part, which constitutes a showcase for the finished film. MiradasDoc has grown gradually, amidst this philosophy of understanding the festival as one overarching whole, because while initially at the market, we worked on a more television-orientated kind of documentary, which was sometimes at odds with the varieties that we programmed at the festival, in recent years, they’ve gone hand in hand with each other, and the programme that we come up with – revolving around auteur and creative documentaries – selects the types of projects that come to us at the market. In the same way, that’s the kind of training we provide in our workshops.

What would you single out from the programme at this year’s edition of the festival, where there are feature debuts as well as national and international features?
It’s a very mature programme, which reflects the quality of the festival, and if we look at the feature competition, half of them are national premieres, which has been difficult to achieve, but it proves that there is already a strong commitment by Spanish and foreign filmmakers to present their films here. And we also have movies that have had high-profile premieres on the international circuit and whose Spanish premieres we are taking care of. They are titles in which we see the evolution of documentary film on the international level, as the narratives are getting increasingly elaborate and the shoots are set up like they would be for a fiction film, with meticulous cinematography, sound design and so on. I think there’s been a huge leap in quality over the last few years in the field of documentary film, and MiradasDoc is a reflection of that. If only we had enough hours available to programme more titles, but we give a snapshot of what is happening in the world on the social and political level. We also offer an overview of how filmmakers are making their productions more focused, from a documentary standpoint.

What editorial policy does your market adhere to?
It started off as a market for TV documentaries, with a link to reportages, but it has repositioned itself to cater for those kinds of projects that provide a special perspective on Africa and America, or the crossroads between them both, through stories and co-productions. Also, we host films of a high creative quality, which leave room for critical thinking and reflection. We are lucky to be able to work with these projects during the entire year, as our labs open months beforehand, and our incubator is active as soon as the previous edition has wrapped. That means that once these offerings arrive at the market, they are more mature, and when they are presented there, they are better equipped on every level, in terms of both their production and their narrative.

Claire Simon is set to receive the Premio Mirada Personal (lit. “Personal Point of View Award”): do few female filmmakers have such a personal gaze as she does?
If we cast our minds back to 2006, when we began, and think of all the masters who have passed through here, and how we’ve been able to enjoy their films and their know-how… The fact that it’s her this year is very special because we have spent years trying to strike a balance between the most orthodox brand of documentary and taking a hybrid approach. With her films, you don’t know if you’re in the realm of documentary or fiction. She is one of the people who best reflect walking this tightrope.

Lastly, are the Canary Islands cementing themselves as a strategic location between Europe, Africa and Latin America with events such as MiradasDoc?
The archipelago has always been this crossroads between continents. Starting from the baseline of all the culture that reaches us here, we have generated our own projects, and in these places, they appreciate being able to share and meet face to face, in a location that’s not only friendly, but is also somewhere where residencies, markets and festivals can be organised. Over its 15 years of existence, MiradasDoc has proven that it’s a cultural crossroads: here, all cultures join hands and engage in an efficient dialogue. We’re happy to have opened this avenue for exchange.