Un volcán habitado

Synopsis

In September 2021, the earth shook on the island of La Palma and fire spewed out. For almost three months, the river of lava gorged its way down the mountains until it reached the coast, annihilating everything in its path and leaving behind a blanket of ashes in its wake.

Un volcán habitado is a collective portrait of friendship and resilience in a land that lives alongside the hypnotic and devastating power of nature. Narrated through WhatsApp audio messages exchanged by a group of friends, with images of breathtaking beauty and striking sound, David Pantaleón and Jose Víctor Fuentes eschew the usual portrayals found in the media and craft a chronicle of those moments of astonishing uncertainty.

Biography and Films

David Pantaleón (Gran Canaria, 1978), a graduate of the Escuela de Actores de Canarias with a degree in dramatic art, began his journey as a director in 2006. HIs award-winning shorts include Réquiem por la fiesta (2022), El polinizador (2016), Fiesta de pijamas (2015), Tres corderos (2015), and La pasión de Judas (2014), all of which played at l'Alternativa. In 2021, he presented his first feature film, Rendir los machos, for which he won the Spanish Film Award at l'Alternativa Official.

Jose Víctor Fuentes (La Palma, 1973), a director and producer, studied film at various schools in Madrid and at the New York Film Academy. After several short films, in 2011 he codirected 90 minutos & I love you, a collective film written on the internet and shot in a single long take in Brooklyn. In 2012 he filmed La Luz de Mafasca in Fuerteventura, under the pseudonym Zacarías de la Rosa, both presented at the International Film Festival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In 2015 the Seville Film Festival hosted the premiere of BKLYN 1121. His latest feature film, A veces el amor (2021), premiered at MiradasDoc. Since 2002, he has directed the Festivalito La Palma.