COOPERATIVE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FILMS,
EXHIBITIONS
AND EVENTS INTO DOCUMENTARY AND EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA
LAIA is a co-op working in culture, cinematographic and artistic fields, as well as free forms of critical and collective thought. “Laia” is a portuguese slang word often used to describe collective characteristics or behaviours that are looked down on or misunderstood. Our work is nourished by this irreverent energy that instigates new perspectives and production strategies in cultural cooperation and knowledge exchange.
“Laia” is also a common name for silver, which is a pleasant material for us, since the foundations of this cooperative are based on the experimental practice of cinema and on the inheritance of its silver crystals.
The Laia co-op emerges in the city of Porto and the activities that we intend to support include film production, film screenings, training and artistic residencies. We are creating a film laboratory specialised in analogue film, (super8, 16mm and 35mm), while also incorporating digital technologies. With this we intend to create dialogues and partnerships that will foster new experimental practices of free use, while filling in the gap of analogue film production in this city, providing an open space for those who want to use it and inhabit it.
MEMBERS
SOFIA ARRISCADO
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Studied Audiovisual Directing and Post-production in Lisbon and Philosophy in Porto. She works in the areas of documentary recording, video art and experimental cinema. collaboratesince 2006 with artists linked to the performing arts.She was camera operator and co-editor of the film Youth of Athens by Pauliana V.Pimentel and camera operator in the films After the Law and Echo of Jonathan's GutsUliel Saldanha.She was a member of the selection committee for the International Film Festival CompetitionPort/Post/Doc (2016-2018). Of her authorial work, “Fasma” (2017), “Lapso” (2021), co-authorcarried out with Costanza Givone, winner of the EDP/Maat Foundation Acquisition Prize at the 13th edition of FUSO - Lisbon International Video Art Festival (2021) and the Acquisition Prize - XXII Cerveira International Art Biennial (2022), and “Água Ardente” (2022), film installation co-authored with Laetitia Morais and Mónica Baptista. She is a member of the Torre Cinema Laboratory and co-founder of the cultural cooperative Laia, dedicated to the investigation and production of experimental cinema.
SOFIA ARRISCADO
Studied Audiovisual Directing and Post-production in Lisbon and Philosophy in Porto. She works in the areas of documentary recording, video art and experimental cinema. collaboratesince 2006 with artists linked to the performing arts.She was camera operator and co-editor of the film Youth of Athens by Pauliana V.Pimentel and camera operator in the films After the Law and Echo of Jonathan's GutsUliel Saldanha.She was a member of the selection committee for the International Film Festival CompetitionPort/Post/Doc (2016-2018). Of her authorial work, “Fasma” (2017), “Lapso” (2021), co-authorcarried out with Costanza Givone, winner of the EDP/Maat Foundation Acquisition Prize at the 13th edition of FUSO - Lisbon International Video Art Festival (2021) and the Acquisition Prize - XXII Cerveira International Art Biennial (2022), and “Água Ardente” (2022), film installation co-authored with Laetitia Morais and Mónica Baptista. She is a member of the Torre Cinema Laboratory and co-founder of the cultural cooperative Laia, dedicated to the investigation and production of experimental cinema.
LAETITIA MORAIS
Visual artist, researcher and lecturer. Graduated in Painting at the University of Fine Arts in Porto and actual PhD researcher at Zurich University of Arts and Kunstuniversität Linz. Professor in the field of Art, since 2008, in higher education – Coimbra College of Education; Faculty of Architecture at the University of Coimbra and The School of Arts, UCP. Presented work in galleries and events, such as Mota Museum, Ljubljana; Spoilt, Peacock Art Centre - Aberdeen; Kvitvechir, Kiev; Gallery Faticart, Rome; General Public, Berlin; Audiovisiva 4.0, Milan; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Störung, Barcelona; Sonic Scope, Lisbon; Close, New York; Screen Compositions, New York; Mózg, Bydgoszcz; Zé dos Bois Gallery, Lisbon; Experimental Intermedia Foundation, New York; CIAJG, Guimarães; Porto Municipal Gallery, Porto; Contemporary Arts Center Arquipélago, Azores; NYUAD Arts Center, Abu Dhabi; OnGoing Art Center, Tokyo; Porta 33 Gallery, Madeira; Ircam Forum NYU, New York, among others. Granted by the Ernesto de Sousa 2011 from the Calouste Gulbenkian + FLAD Foundation; award for best music video, at Curtas Vila do Conde IFF 2016; Research Award 2018, by the Vienna Academy of Arts, among others. Actual artist-in-residence at Ateliers Municipais do Porto. She is a member of the Torre Cinema Laboratory and co-founder of the cultural cooperative Laia.
MÓNICA BAPTISTA
Graduated in Fine Arts-Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Porto, develops work in the field of photography, video, documentary and experimental cinema, with a special focus on analogue media. Pitões das Júnias (Trás-os-Montes) has been a gestational place for the development of her work, as well as cyclical travel contexts and artistic residencies, among which, ZDB - Lisbon, Location One - New York, Crater Lab - Barcelona, Atelier 105 - Light Cone - Paris and LEC - Experimental Cine Laboratory in Mexico City. Her work has been shown in Portugal and internationally, in galleries and film festivals. Her filmography includes “Água Forte” (2018) premiered at the Vila do Conde Short Film Festival, with an honorable mention at Luso Brasileiro Festival and an acquisition award from the Porto City Council, “Cem Raios t'Abram” (co-directed, 2015), premiered at the Festival Vila do Conde Short Films (2014), “Diário” (2010) BES Revelação award - shown at the Serralves Museum and “Territórios” (2009) premiered at the Critics' Week (Cannes Festival) and winner of the Best Director award at the Visions du festival Reel (Switzerland).
RITA MORAIS
With a master in Artists’ Film & Moving Image MA, Goldsmiths, University of London, Rita Morais develops her work in the fields of experimental cinema and moving image, with a focus on the use of analog media. Her practice includes creation, programming and research, with a particular interest in the intersection of these fields with issues raised by ecology. She is co-founder of Miragem, a Cultural Association in Pico island, Azores, and artistic director of Miragem - kinematic arts in the landscape, an event produced by the Association. She is part of Laia co-op, an artistic and cultural production structure in Porto and a member of Laboratório da Torre, an experimental and analog film laboratory in the same city. She was a resident artist at SIM - Reykjavik and No Entulho - Artworks. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as Open City Documentary Festival (London, UK), Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (Berwick-upon-tweed, UK), Rockaway IFF (New York, USA), S8 - Mostra de Cinema Periferico (A Coruña, ES); Cinema Fulgor (Alentejo, PT); Suspautas Laikas (Nida, LT), SIM Gallery (Reykjavik, IS), Hvitspoi Gallery (Akureiry, IS); A.P.T. Gallery (London, UK), among others.
PRODUCER
LILIANA S. LASPRILLA
