António Machado

Cosmix

Terra Nova, Mar Velho

Two neighboring villages fight over control of a stream to water their lands.

Filho da Treta

Artur is in Lisbon for his holidays, wonders aimlessly, and is picked up by Rui, a young man who is into marketing and advertising. Joana is in Lisbon for holidays, but also trying to escape from a mysterious, dark passion. Artur and Joana come together, find common roots in their rural background.

There is a photograph from 1937, the year of my parents wedding, taken at Sta. Isabel’s Church. In it, my grandfather José Rodrigues Vieira has a sad pose. He married his daughter and was politically dismissed by the State. He is an old republican, tormented and disappointed. Born in the village of Almeida he was at the Rotunda and at the proclamation of the Republic. The film «O Meu Avô Republicano», through its locations, images, photographs, films, press and propaganda draws the outlines of that time and the republican movement in which he was involved.

One bad thing never comes alone, says the people. The village Estrela is threatened by the waters of the new Alqueva dam. It will become an "island". But, as one bad thing never comes alone, the daily lives of the inhabitants of this small mountain village are changed by the death of Adriano. "In order to create, I destroyed myself; I have so much externalized within myself that within me I exist only outwardly. I am the living scene where various actors perform various plays." (from Livro do Desassossego by Fernando Pessoa), as Adriano liked to quote Adriano. He committed suicide on the day of the village feast, hanging himself in the main square. For Adriano, the main square of the village has long been the center of the world. Adriano felt surrounded, depressed, unable to escape his destiny. "No one can stop a man who travels with suicide on his lapel" Adriano repeated to Lisete, always to the point of exhaustion.