Looking for a Donkey
After posting a satirical video featuring a donkey as Venezuela’s president, two Andean firefighters were imprisoned. While locals remain silent about the incident, rumors swirl about the donkey’s mysterious fate in this mountain town.
Director & Cinematographer - Juan Vicente Manrique
Producers - Juan Vicente Manrique & María Benítez
Associate Producer - Kelly Gutiérrez
Original Music - Miranda en la carraca
Sound Design & Sound recording - Marco Salaverría
Editors - Juan Vicente Manrique & Alan Ohep
Editing Consultant - Stefania Innocenti
VFX - Lorenzo Manrique
Poster Design - Fabiana Comas Rísquez
Fixer - Wualter Villarreal
Camera Assistant - Kelly Gutiérrez
Sound Assistant - María Benítez
Foley Artists - Oriannis Pérez & Luis Romero
Colorist - Gerardo Valencia Aguinaga
Online Editor - Jonathan Torresvalle
Executive Producer, Switchboard Magazine - Celia Aniskovich
Curator, Switchboard Magazine - Jason Anderson
A Función Cine production
Winner of the Canon Video Grant - Short Film Documentary
Official Selection:
SXSW (Winner Jury Award)
IDA Documentary Awards (Winner)
Ariel Awards (Nominated ""Best Documentary Short Film"")
Semaine de la Critique Cannes (Special screening)
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
Hot Docs
Morelia International Film Festival (Winner Best Mexican Short Documentary)
Festival Internacional de Cine de Huesca (Winner Danzante Documental Iberoamericano)
Festival Biarritz Amérique Latine (Special Mention)
Festival de Cine Latinoamericano Rosario (Winner Best Short Film)
INTERFILM Berlin
EBS International Documentary Festival
Regard
Movies that Matter
Visa pour l’image Perpignan
Special Thanks:
Alejandro Rojas, Amanda Pérez Contreras, Auxiliadora Benítez, Claudia Smolansky, Camilo Paparoni, Canon, Edison Rivera, Eduardo Luis Hernández, Espacio Público ONG, Isabel Gómez, José De Andrade Rivero, Mike Martin, Mise creaciones, Neida Albarrán, Observatorio Derechos Humanos ULA, Rafael Manrique, Vaca, Visa pour L’image Perpignan.
About Juan Vicente Manrique:
Venezuelan filmmaker based in Mexico City since 2018. His first approach to audiovisuals was making skate videos in Valencia, Venezuela, the city where he grew up. Later he studied Audiovisual Arts at the Andrés Bello University in Caracas. Upon his arrival in Mexico he worked for three years in a news media, where he confirmed his interest in documentary filmmaking. His latest two short films have been nominated to the Mexican Academy Awards.
His film Looking for a donkey (2024) won the IDA Award, the Jury award at SXSW, the Best Mexican short doc award at Morelia and the Ibero-American doc short award at Huesca. It was also presented in festivals as Clermont ferrand, Hot Docs and Cannes Semaine de la critique (Special screening). His short Don’t worry (2021) premiered at the shorts competition of IDFA, and it showed at Guadalajara and Málaga. The film won the Best Mexican short doc award at Guanajuato. He has also directed the short Creole Balls (2018) and the doc series Never again in Venezuela (2017 - 2019), presented at One World Film festival and winner of a Suncoast Emmy. In 2020, he started Función cine, a production company based in Mexico City with which he is in post-production of his first feature film Bala perdida."
