The Earth

One of three films by a Portugal-based duo of visual artists presented at this year’s New Horizons and the winner of the Doclisboa 2018 competition. Associated for many years with the Alentejo region, they turned two mounds for burning charcoal on the shore of a lake near Mértola into the main protagonists of The Earth. However, this is not a classic documentary about “beautiful work,” about a craft fading into obscurity. The observation of the material world in this case is not so much a pretext for a story about the people and the history of these places as it is a way of creating a form that is spectacular in its minimalism. The experience of cinema is beyond words, reason the filmmakers. Thus, what we are dealing with in their film is the nature of an alchemical process that is full of mysterious gestures. We wanted to provoke viewers into feeling what we ourselves felt in contact with the basic elements of the world that surrounds us: water, fire, air, earth, space. The result is a film that is like incense, shrouded in smoke that purifies and beautifies. The rhythm of the film is tuned to the rhythm of this particular place on Earth, which will move you and give you strength, no matter where you come from.