Full Film - Of Memory and Debris

Of Memory and Debris is a personal portrait of the director’s grandfather (Opa, 94) and his wife's grandfather (Ababo, 81) who stayed back in Venezuela after most of their family emigrated due to the economic crisis and violence in the country. Opa lives with his wife Oma, who has been suffering from Alzheimer's for the past ten years, as he tries to comfort her in her final days. Everyday Ababo scrapes the sewers of his abandoned gold processing factory to accumulate gold remnants and afford a trip to Canada. His goal is to attend his granddaughter’s wedding.

An intimate character diptych, OF MEMORY AND DEBRIS tells the story of an unseen generation — the grandparents left behind by the largest exodus in Latin America's recent history.

Director Biography - Rodrigo Michelangeli

Rodrigo Michelangeli is a Canadian-Venezuelan filmmaker based in Toronto. He is the co-writer, cinematographer and producer of the feature film LA SOLEDAD (Jorge Thielen Armand, 2016), which premiered at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival and helmed the same roles in his sophomore feature LA FORTALEZA (2020) which premiered in the Tiger Competition at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. Rodrigo obtained a BFA in Film Production from Toronto’s York University. As a Cinematographer he has worked in several projects including the hybrid documentary ‘Leftover,’ which won the 2014 Toronto Film Critics Association Award; Rodrigo also produced Mo Scarpelli's third feature film "El Father Plays Himself" which premiered in Visions du Réel 2020 and won its Jury Special Mention. He’s an alumni of RIDM's Talent Lab, Hot Docs Accelerators Program, Venice Biennale College, BAL and the Berlinale Talents Camera Studio. He founded La Faena Films with Jorge Thielen Armand.