PROTO

by Álvaro Chior

PROTO

by Álvaro Chior

synopsis

synopsis

Four people live together in an industrial building and construct what appears to be a cinema. Suddenly, a meteorological phenomenon leaves them trapped in that space between the projector and the screen.

technical information

technical information

Title: Proto
Internacional title: Proto
Genre: Essay, Drama
Duration: 75 min. (estimated)
Color: color
Shooting Format: 4,5k
Exhibition format: DCP 2k
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Sound: Dolby 5.1
Nationality: Spain
Original Language: Galician, Spanish
Production: Acariño Films
Year of production: 2026

crew and cast

crew and cast

Direction, screenplay, music and editing: Álvaro Chior
Direction of photography: Marta Abril, Kiko Ruiz
Gaffer: Andrea Louzao
Art director: Elena Álvarez
Sound: Borja Freire, Alberto Blanco
Production: Andrés Sanjurjo
Cast:Ángela Millano, Noela Covelo, Omar Miranda e Ida Plaza
With the support of: AGADIC – Xunta de Galicia

labs

labs

LAB BASE –  Interseccion Festival · 2023

teaser

teaser

director's notes

director's notes

PROTO stems from an interest in the past, in origins. What lies behind, not only in time but also in space, what cannot be seen. The choreography implicit in the articulation of language, the primary materialities of cinema and the bodies and movements that make it possible. What comes before light allows us to see, when it only blinds us. What comes before movement, that impulse, that direction, that meaning.

The film starts with the relationship between four people and the space they occupy. There, they perform different actions such as reading texts, interacting with objects, creating visual and sound effects, etc.

Through the texts they read, a dissemination of the semiotic exercise and film language takes place, in the form of a poetic essay, relating its constituent elements (movement, light, etc.) to the primary elements, as well as to the possible origins of language and image and the material and bodily implications that make them possible.

How many bodies and how many movements are needed to set the image in motion? How do these bodies affect and are affected by each other? How far do we feel our bodies and matter from the apparatus of representation? Can we approach it from another angle? From closer? From within?