COOPERATIVE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FILMS,
EXHIBITIONS
AND EVENTS INTO ARTISTS’ FILM, EXPERIMENTAL AND DOCUMENTARY CINEMA
LAIA is a co-op dedicated to culture, artistic and film production, as well as to freer forms of critical and collective thinking. In portuguese slang, laia is an expression often used to describe collective characteristics or behaviors that are looked down on or misunderstood. Nourished by such potency, which instigates renewed perspectives and production strategies, Laia aims to develop artistic and creative cooperation, through the exchange and sharing of knowledge. Laia is also a common name for silver, a pleasant material for us, given the inheritance of silver crystals in relation to film.
The co-op that emerges in the city of Porto is dedicated to the creation and production of artists’ and experimental films, the facilitation of artistic residencies, as well as exhibiting and programming in the fields of visual arts and experimental cinema. Laia has developed a film laboratory, Laboratório da Torre, specialized in analogue media — super8, 16mm and 35mm — while also incorporating technologies of video and digital photography. Being managed in a cooperative model and of public access, the artists-run lab is a space committed to foster creation within filmic experimental practices, as well as artistic collaboration, mutual support and access to analogue film equipment. Part of SPECTRAL, a project that connects six artists-run labs in europe, Laia co-op and the lab have been creating a platform for the development of E.C.A. — Expanded Cinematic Arts — in Portugal. Being funded in 2019 by Laetitia Morais, Mónica Baptista and Sofia Arriscado, current members of Laia co-op are Sofia Arriscado, Mónica Baptista and Rita Morais.
MEMBERS
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
SOFIA ARRISCADO
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