Galicia is one of the provinces in Spain with a high rate of emigration. Young people are moving elsewhere, making Galicia ‘s population one of the most aged in Europe. María looks at the people who stay and take care of the ‘homeland’. As a starting point María uses Doc Next’s videos from Turkey, Poland, the UK and Spain, in which people speak about their ‘local’ worries. María’ s choice sketches the relation between a changing demography, capitalism and migration as seen by the elderly in Europe.

María wants to discuss how old people struggle with the change in society during their lives, and how this is reflected in their attitude towards the capitalist system: job, savings,consumer behavior and leisure. The Ones that Stay are tough in these times of austerity, even though they are one of the most vulnerable groups. María finds it important to talk about their spirit of sacrifice and their individual and collective effort to work for their homes.

Much is said about the epic of migration, but not so much about the ones who remain where they are born. These groups are the ones who have to take care of the disadvantaged and the territories. The Ones that Stay have to struggle against the drain of people and resources in Europe’s small villages – a process of expropriation which is almost unstoppable. In these small villages María finds the Europe she can identify with.

Watch María Yáñez’ selection (10 films) here.

Who is María Yáñez?

María Yáñez (1978) is a digital media maker and researcher from Galicia (Spain). She is been working in film & tv, journalism and web content, exploring the hybrid spaces between those areas.
María is partner and co-founder of A Navalla Suíza, a digital communication company focused on web apps and open video tools development, researcher on digital narratives at the University of Santiago de Compostela, co-editor of EMBED.at, a Spanish network and publication bout integrated audiovisual, and contributor to the i-Docs website, an international community of Interactive Documentary researchers and creators.
At this moment María Yáñez is particularly interested in the concepts of open source film, remix, database cinema, online video archives and collaborative filmmaking. She is exploring the possibilities of HTML5 tools for enhancing user’s video experience, and helping filmmakers to build complex narratives mixing video and web language. She and her company collaborated in the Web Made Movies project with the Mozilla Foundation and the National Film Board of Canada. In 2010 her team won the MIPTV Digital Creativity Festival ‘Content 360º’ in the ‘Next generation online video experience’ category, with the project ‘Augmented Films’.