La Ola – ethnographic film from our project


The Wave (la Ola) is an ethno-fiction film from our project. The winner of the Docs Without Festival investigative award, was well received and after completing the festival circuit, we are happy to share it with the world.

The film is directed by dr Paloma Yáñez Serrano who conducted ethnographic research in Madrid and features EmCliC research participants.

Madrid had 42 days of heatwave on the summer of 2022. This is the story of how nine adults over 65 years old, living in the neighbourhoods affected by the urban heat island effect, experienced the hottest day of the summer. It shows how they live with, battle against and surrender to the heat, as they go about their day, finding alternatives to the heat. The narrative is built in collaboration with participants, who were the motor of this summer ethnofiction. It reveals the strategies inherited from our grandparents as well as a blatant criticism to how heat is approached in the urban design. It is both an homage to our traditional heat coping strategies and an open question to the heated urban environments that will shape our futures.