Rural Seeds “Footprint”, selected for Mobile Film Festival

Written by Matheus Vieira da Cunha,
Brazilian medical student and member of Rural Seeds
 

The short film “Footprint” produced by Rural Seeds Brasil was selected among 692 other films from 92 countries in the 17th edition of the Mobile Film Festival  whose theme is “Making Peace with Nature''. Among the 50 selected, the one with the highest score on the SensCritique  platform until November 30th will receive the “Audience Award”.

"’Footprint’ challenges people to think about how they make their mark on Earth through footsteps in the world.” - Marco Aurélio and Mayara Floss

The short film was directed and produced by Marco Aurélio and Mayara Floss, with the help of multiple Brazilian volunteers who sent scenes for its composition. It aims to make the audience reflect on our relationship with the planet and the “footprint” that we want to leave in it. This invitation to reflection comes at an opportune time, in the midst of climate change and COP26 (26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change).

Climate change is just one facet of the footprints left by humanity, as the recently launched São Paulo Declaration on Planetary Health, published in October in The Lancet magazine, addresses:

“The scale of our own environmental impacts is threatening our nutrition and mental health, increasing exposure to infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases, and driving population displacement and conflict. On our current trajectory, we can no longer safeguard human health and wellbeing.”

Also according to the declaration, in addition to individual changes in daily life, it is necessary to reflect on the need for deep structural changes in most dimensions of human activity. Do you accept this invitation to reflection?

About the Rural Seeds Network

Audiovisual production is nothing new for the directors, who are part of the Rural Videos team of the Brazilian team at Rural Seeds. Rural Seeds is a worldwide network of students and young doctors interested in rural medicine, launched at the 14th Wonca World Rural Health Conference, which took place in 2017 in Cairns, Australia. Its objective is to disseminate information and guide the training of rural practice to its members and community, in addition to working to identify rural health needs in order to promote change. The project is mentored by WONCA's Working Party on Rural Practice (WWPRP) and also liaises with WONCA's Young Doctor's Movement. Last year the short film directed by Andressa Paz and Mayara Floss “Womb-world” (Original: Mundo útero)  produced by Rural Seeds was also selected for the festival.

The video team began production in 2017, when the “Rural Videos” project was launched with support from the Brazilian Society of Family and Community Medicine (SBMFC). In 2021, the project's YouTube channel had more than 35 thousand views. Between videos with informative content and short films, audiovisual production has been an important tool for Rural Seeds to achieve its goals, taking information to the general public in a simple and direct way, in audio and video, democratizing its access and contributing to the fight for a well-served rural population and a healthier planet.

The festival

The Mobile Film Festival has been held annually for 17 years, with submissions open to everyone, under the principle “1 Mobile – 1 Minute – 1 Film”, that is, the accepted short films must be filmed with cell phones and their duration cannot exceed one minute. Thus, according to information from the platform itself, it has sought “the democratization of filmmaking by zeroing in on storytelling — and not big-budget productions”. The festival is aimed at “young directors” from all over the world, with the aim of discovering talent and supporting their work, either giving visibility or financing their productions. The format has had substantial public support, and in the last five editions it has received 5,721 shorts from 151 countries, reaching more than 130 million views, the same period in which it awarded a total of €310,000 ($370,000) in production funds.

Among the awards given by the festival is the Audience Award, whose winner is determined by popular vote. You can help the team win the Audience Award by voting through the SensCritique platform until November 30th at 11:59 am (Paris time, France) and promoting the short through the YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.