Immersing oneself in the Sea Otherness: Oceanic Ecopoetics and new Marine Mythologies in Contemporary Galician Cinema

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2026.17.1.5899

Keywords:

Galician cinema, Atlantic Ocean, ecological mythologies, Atlantic geopoetics

Abstract

This study examines the reconfiguration of marine representation in contemporary Galician cinema through the comparative analysis of De Profundis (2006) by Miguelanxo Prado and Sica (2023) by Carla Subirana. The article interrogates the modalities according to which these films develop an ecopoetics of the depths that transforms the Atlantic Ocean into an autonomous dramatic agent. It will try to reveal the opposition between two aesthetic strategies: Prado's total contemplative immersion thanks to pictorial animation and a sensorial narration or Subirana's critical territorial anchoring based on a poetic realism and situated knowledge. This confrontation shows that these approaches converge towards the invention of an oceanic temporality and the elaboration of contemporary ecological mythologies. Finally, the aim is to demonstrate that these works are part of a transnational Atlantic geopoetics that articulates territorial and planetary challenges and to reveal the emergence of an ecology of attention that overcomes the opposition between contemplation aesthetics and political commitment to propose a sensorial pedagogy that educates in the perception of ecosystemic interdependencies.

 

Key words: Galician cinema, ecopoetics, Atlantic Ocean, ecological mythologies, Atlantic geopoetics.

 

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Author Biography

Christelle Colin, Université de Pau et des pays de l'Adour

Christelle Colin is a Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Pau and the Pays de l'Adour (UPPA), and a member of the ALTER laboratory (Arts/Languages: Transitions & Relations). Her research focuses on contemporary Spanish cinema, with particular attention to marginal cinemas, new ruralities, and ecopoetic approaches. She is more broadly interested in the ways in which cinema — especially films made by women or rooted in peripheral territories — allows us to rethink our relationship with the living world, space, and temporalities in the age of the Anthropocene. She is currently working on environmental and rural imaginaries, as well as on filmic forms that question the return to the sensory. Co-editor of the volume Langues de terre et paroles d'eau, published in December 2025 by L'Harmattan, she is also coordinator of the POCTEFA Trame project. Pyrenean Women: Territory and Memory (2026–2029).

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Published

2026-04-30

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2026): Sea More Blue

Section

Articles: Sea More Blue

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