Environmental Struggle and Its Aftermath: Two Films by Maddi Barber + Q&A

When: Wednesday, February 18, 2026, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Where: BLOC Cinema, ArtsOne Building, Mile End

Screening:

Above 592 Metres (2018) 24 min Trailer

Land Underwater (2019) 50 min Trailer

On the slopes of the Spanish Pyrenees, the construction of the Itoiz Dam in the 1990s submerged seven villages, permanently transforming the landscape and its livelihoods. After years of resistance against the flooding of their lands, its inhabitants now relate to this altered territory from a distance. Weaving careful observation, dream recounting, and images from direct actions by activists, the films trace the lingering aftermath of the struggle.

Maddi Barber (Arce Valley, 1988) is an artist and filmmaker and teaches at ESAPB (Bayonne). She holds a degree in Media and an MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Manchester. Her work has been screened at festivals such as Visions du Réel, San Sebastian (Zabaltegi), Curtocircuito, Zinebi, Alcances, Ji.hlava, Porto Post Doc and Las Palmas, among others. Between 2018 and 2019 she made a diptych consisting of a short film and a medium-length film (Above 592 metres and Land Underwater) on the effect of the Itoiz reservoir on the territory of the Arce’s Valley in Navarre. In 2019, she won the X-FILMS project of the Punto de Vista Festival with which she made the short film Red. In 2019, she created the production company Pirenaika with which she has produced her own works as well as short films by other filmmakers.