The Flight of the Stork

Runtime: 71'/ 52'

Expected release: August 2025

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €104,043 (65% in place)

Looking for: Festivals (premieres), sales agents, distributors, buyers, broadcasters, co-producers, gap financing, strategic guidance (for festivals strategy)

Synopsis:

Seeking her roots, 29-year-old Soumaya travels to Algeria, filming her quest to understand the past her mother left behind. Through family archives and intimate conversations, she confronts her identity and traditions. What begins as a personal search becomes a poignant look at exile, family bonds, and three generations of women striving for connection across distance and belief

Director’s Profile:

Soumaya Hidalgo Djahdou (Barcelona, ​​1994) is a multicultural artist, translator, and teacher. Her work bridges cultures. Inspired by her grandmother’s disappearing Berber dialect, she conducts family research that evolved into her first documentary, “The Flight of the Stork.” She holds a degree in German and English translation and interpretation from Pompeu Fabra University.

Co-director’s Profile:

Berta Vicente Salas (Barcelona, ​​1994), a Pulitzer Center alumna, is a filmmaker and photographer renowned for her evocative and melancholic photography that blends reality and imagination. Known for her intimate portraits that capture profound emotions, her work conveys introspection and nostalgia. She holds a degree in Humanities (UOC) and a Master’s in Documentary Film from EICTV, Cuba. She was awarded Fototalentos by the Santander Foundation (2013) and received the Sony World Photography Awards (2013) in the youth portrait category. She made her first short film, “Todos los días Elisa,” at EICTV Cuba. “The Flight of the Stork.” will be her first feature-length documentary.

Producer’s Profile:

Matheus Mello (1986), non-binary producer and founder of Migranta Films with over a decade experience, develops bold audiovisual projects and industry initiatives between Brazil and Spain, fostering fairer co-productions across the Global North and South.

With a portfolio spanning films, immersive experiences, and international collaborations, productions such as I Am (IDFA Special Jury Prize) and Kalunga (Best Latin American Short at Kinoforum) and projects like “the Dreams of Time,” “Scorpionikas,” and “Hold Time for Me” have been showcased at Cinemart, EFM, Visions du Réel, Durban Filmart, Atlas Ateliers Marrakesh, D’A Lab, Cinema Pendent, GZDOC, among others.

Collaborations include work with Lucrecia Martel, Pedro Costa, and Werner Herzog on talent development programs. A Sundance Institute, Creative Producer Indaba, and Ji.hlava Emerging Producers alumnus.