Bio at 4 in the morning:

I grew up in sunny Barcelona. The horizon ever present. I loved the beach in winter. Endless Spanish aperitifs and listening to adults talking for hours about the new Spain and the New Catalonia.
I also remember walks with my father and our big dog Flash in the Parque Güell, at that time completely neglected. I loved observing everything around me. That was in the 80s, in full democratic transition after Franco’s death.

I was a nearsighted child: blurring was no error to me, but my way of seeing and perceiving the world. From far away the colors mingled, the sea melted into sky, the people became forms moving in the landscape.
When you’re nearsighted and don’t wear glasses, you recognize people by their movements, their gestures. You settle your gaze on the subject and stare at it. To see it better you frown as if you’re angry. But no, it is the brain that is trying to size it up.
I also remember my parents’ disputes and their passionate love, which has left its mark on my life. As Antonio Machado said: “Neither with you nor without you, because without you I die, with you because you kill me.” My life was built in this way. And then sometimes it suited me not to see clearly; in the dark it’s always easier to imagine another better world…

Today I also try to size things up. My eyes are the lens, the brain my camera, wrinkles between my eyes the mark of all I’ve experienced. But before the image, what interests me is what’s happening around the image. Energies, synergy between people, emotions, I cannot explain what I want. It’s something I do not even see when I film, but I discovered after on my screen when I look at the pictures. And like that, sometimes, it’s there.

The camera has become an extension of my body and like a stick to write on the sand when I was a child, now I write in images the emotions my brain receives.

Bio at 2 p.m.:

I have lived and worked in Paris for 20 years. During my Art History and Foreign Languages studies, I collaborated with artists in the organization of cultural exhibitions and projects.

In 1998 I made a trip to Sarajevo (HERE) that was decisive in my desire to share “what I see and what I saw”. To witness and leave a trace. On my return I exhibited my photographs at the university. I soon confirmed my desire to go out to meet people and stories. In 2000, I started on TV as an assistant editor for Frédéric Mitterrand. Creating images, doing interviews became my profession and my passion above all.

I will never give up the camera. To the teaser HERE.

After more than 15 years traveling the world and creating hundreds of hours of footage and interviews for France 2, France 5, Canal+, Match TV, Arte, my work today opens towards new formats and new audiovisual research.

My work is a bridge between documentary filmmaking and artistic creation.

© Sandra WIS