11 Underground by Chico Pereira
We will gather for a relaxed evening at Letkunpuiston Helmi on Sunday before the colloquium kicks off to watch Chico Pereira's documentary 11 Underground. The film screening will start at 19:00, followed by an online Q&A session with the director. Please register in advance, as spaces are limited.
Synopsis: In 1984, the hard-fought protest of eleven Spanish mercury miners from Almadén (in southern Spain) made national headlines when they barricaded themselves hundreds of meters underground for eleven days and nights to demand fair pay and better working conditions. Thirty-five years later, the mine has closed for good. The world in Almadén has changed, but the problems have only deepened. Can the spirit of the miners’ strike rise again to bring hope and social justice to a community left behind?
WINNER: BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY AWARD. 2025 DOCPOINT FILM FESTIVAL. WORLD/NATIONAL PREMIERE/COMPETITION (FINLAND, FEB 2025)
WINNER: BEST DIRECTOR AWARD FOR FEATURE DOC. ALCANCES DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL. OFFICIAL SELECTION. SPANISH PREMIERE (SPAIN, OCTOBER 2025)
WINNER: SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD. ACTIVISTS WITHOUT BORDERS FILM FESTIVAL (UK, OCT 2025)
Bio: Chico Pereira (Almadén, Spain, 1979) approaches documentary through intimate, understated narratives inhabited by the people of rural and post-industrial landscapes. His first feature, Pablo´s Winter (2012), offered a delicate portrait of mining life, earning awards at DOK-Leipzig, IDFA, and Full Frame, and inaugurating MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight in New York. With Donkeyote (2017), which premiered in Rotterdam and was celebrated internationally, he crafted a poetic journey of a man, his donkey, and an improbable dream. His latest work, 11 Underground (2025), weaves together documentary recreation, ethnofiction, and art as social practice to summon the memory of a miners’ strike. Pereira holds a PhD in Film, Digital Media, and Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and currently directs the Master’s Programme in Documentary Film at Aalto University, Finland.
