Allegra Pacheco wins the Best Documentary and Best Soundtrack Awards at the Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival held in Hollywood October 20-31 at the Raleigh Studios Chaplin Theater.
The powerful documentary by multimedia artist Allegra Pacheco, Salaryman, chosen to open the Festival, captures the history and culture of the “Salarymen” office workers in Japan, hard-working office workers who helped turn Japan from the postwar era into the global power that the country is today. But at what cost? Salaryman combines performing arts and a punk documentary ethic to open our minds to the cost of overwork, ultimately revealing surprising ways in which wage earners, across cultures, can find escape and healing.
Salaryman, directed and produced by Pacheco, is supported by a production team with prominent characters from the film scene. In the production, in addition to Pacheco, she counted on Katie Taber, producer of “Stranger / Sister” and “Siempre Luis” and Michael Lustig, previously working in the music department on films such as “The Million Dollar Hotel” and now producer of outstanding titles like “Icarus”. Pacheco was also in charge of cinematography with Eduardo Uribe.
For its part, the editing was in charge of Luis Alvarez Y Alvarez, a film editor with a long career that began in the Pixar studios with memorable films such as “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo.” Josh Stanley and John Hawkes, Nadia Conners and Ross Clarke were also executive produced.
Awarded with the award for the best soundtrack of the Festival, the documentary had the musical composition and sounding by James Iha, prominent musician co-founder of the popular bands “Smashing Pumpkins” and “A Perfect Circle”, making sure to create a rich composition and immersive specific to Salaryman.
No limits in the genre of production
Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on documentaries where there are no limits in the genre of production, going from animation, music video to even experimental, with the intention of carrying the legacy of the famous directors Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov, who won the admiration of the great modern directors, such as Godard, Coppola and Tarkovsky; It has been carried out since 2015, making this its 6th edition.
In addition, great names are participating in the Festival such as actor Liam Neeson, who stands out in his roles in films such as Star Wars: Episode I and the Relentless Search saga, Michelle Rodríguez, from the popular Fast and Furious saga; Jeff Bridges, who took roles in great classics like King Kong, Tron and the Kingsman saga; and John Malkovitch, remembered in the iconic Johnny English saga (starring Mr. Bean).
The films of the festival can be seen virtually between October 25 and 31, on the official website of the Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival: https://www.docla.org/2021
More about Allegra Pacheco
Born in 1986 in San José, Costa Rica, Allegra has been a dedicated traveler and artist, Pacheco’s art exhibitions span from Japan to Europe and America. A first-time filmmaker with Salaryman, Allegra holds a Master of Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York and a Master of Fine Arts from Wimbledon College of Arts, London.
Allegra’s work is included in important collections worldwide, including Mori Collection (private collection of the owner of the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo), Massaveu Madrid Foundation), Francisco Cantos (ARCO Madrid) and Takeo Obayashi (Obayashi Corporation, private collection ).
Her work has been exhibited at Yamamoto Gendai, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Shugo Arts and Momo Gallery in Tokyo, New York Photo Festival in Dumbo, ARTMAD Madrid and Galería Despacio Costa Rica, among others. Since 2016, Allegra has worked almost exclusively on Salaryman and also delving into his painting practice.
More about the festival
The Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival (DOC LA) is organized by the esteemed Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. Screen and award outstanding films by students, emerging authors, and established teachers to provide the Los Angeles community with the opportunity to see great examples of American and world cinema. DOC LA furthers the mission of the Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Awards established in 2010.
While the focus of the festival is documentary filmmaking, films of any genre (including animated, experimental, and musical videos) are scheduled as long as a unique or enchanting work is accomplished. Strange and unclassifiable films are also attractive, since the institute that presents the festival is named after renowned nonconformists Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) and Mikhail Vartanov (1937-2009) who overcame censorship, persecution and low budgets, and won accolades for their daring point of view of many of cinema’s greatest luminaries, such as Godard, Coppola, and Tarkovsky, and inspired the likes of Madonna and Lady Gaga.
The DOC LA programmer is his disciple and UCLA alumnus Martiros M. Vartanov, who served as curator and juror at festivals in Busan and Beverly Hills, and worked on the restoration of the masterpiece “The Color of Pomegranates” selected for the Cannes Festival.
It also presents the institute’s annual awards, whose honorees include Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan, French film icon Jean Vigo, legendary screenwriter Mardik Martin, Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson. as well as Alfred Molina, Emilio Rivera, Usher, Mark Ruffalo, Angela Bassett, and the Grammy-winning rock band System Of A Down.
