This year, South Plug and Tusk Content joined forces to try something different at Sónar: capturing the festival from within, with smartphones, lenses, and intention. The idea was not to cover the event or romanticize constant recording. It was something else: to observe how a festival is experienced when the recording tool does not interfere but rather integrates itself.
To do this, we brought in Denys Fedorov and Oleksandr Derevnin, two Ukrainian directors living in Barcelona, who were given full creative freedom, no shot lists, no instructions. Just them, a couple of smartphones with custom-designed lenses, and the energy of the festival.
“It wasn’t a commission, it was about experiencing it. And only recording if it made sense,” says Denys.
Denys Fedorov (Sónar microfilm)
Oleksandr had never been to a festival like this before. Denys hadn’t been to one in years. The first arrived with no expectations. The second, with the intention of going back to basics: filming as he did in the beginning, with music and a phone. And that’s what they did; for three days, they walked, listened, danced, and recorded when something called for it. No sets, no interviews, no backstage. The people, the body, the light, and the sound were the content.
Oleksandr Derevnin (Sónar microfilm)
“We didn’t bring big cameras. Just our phones. That changed everything. No one feels uncomfortable if they don’t see you as part of the ‘film crew,’” says Denys.
The result does not seek to represent the festival, but rather to capture a state of being. Fragments. Bodies. Textures. Lights. People dancing without realizing there is a camera nearby. The editing was done in the same way as the filming: letting themselves be carried away by what was left in the gallery. “I edited it like a diary, something intimate. A record you can return to, just to remember how you felt,” says Denys.
The pieces are now available, without any pretensions of being a documentary, but rather documenting the experience, its layers, and what remains.
Recording with smartphones is nothing new. But doing it well, without disturbing, without distracting, without overacting. This project makes one thing clear: recording can be a way of living, if done consciously.
“We all have smartphones. Use them well. Edit something. Don’t let them die in the gallery,” says Denys.
“CREATIVE FILM & SOUNDS” BEHIND THE SCENES & INTERVIEW
“For Tusk, raising awareness about the proper use of tools and technology is essential to creating harmony in their evolution,” says Gonzalo Saavedra, Creative Director & Partner at Tusk Global/Spain.
When we presented this project, as well as to the filmmakers we work with on a regular basis, the idea was always to debunk the myth that the presence of mobile phones at shows was something negative, but rather an opportunity to develop pieces of excellence and encourage creativity in general.
Our interest is to constantly develop audiovisual quality, as well as to provide tools and creative spaces to filmmakers not only in musical environments, but also in other areas, as we have done in more than eight countries where we have a presence, working on global brands and campaigns in terms of creativity, production, and audiovisual production.