Barbs, Wastelands

Marta Mateus

In the end of the 19th century the peasants in Portugal started a courageous struggle for better work conditions. After generations of starving misery, the Carnation Revolution sowed the promise of an Agrarian Reform. Mostly in the Alentejo region, these rural workers occupied the huge properties where they were once submitted to the power of their Masters. Perhaps the lost seed of other fruits...
It is said in Alentejo, when something is lost, those who are looking should start to walk back to the beginning. We must pray and ask Saint Lucy to clear our vision, so we can see and look better.
The protagonists of this film, resistants of this struggle, many of them illiterate, working since childhood, tell their story to the youngsters of today, in their own words.


FESTIVALS:

[2017] Quinzaine des Réalisateurs - Cannes [France]
[2017] Curtas Vila do Conde (Great Prize) [Portugal]
[2017] Curtocircuíto - International Film Festival (Young Jury Honourable Mention) [Spain]
[2017] Festival du Nouveau cinéma [Canada]
[2017] New York Film Festival [USA]
[2017] IndieCork Film Festival [Irland]
[2017] FICValdivia - Festival Internacional de Cine de Valdivia [Chile]
[2017] L'Âge d'Or Festival [Belgium]
[2017] Curta'Arruda [Portugal]
[2017] Viennale - Vienna International Film Festival [Austria]
[2017] Festival de Cine Internacional de Ourense [Spain]
[2017] Leeds International Film Festival [UK]
[2017] FIKE - Festival Internacional de Curtas Metragens de Évora [Portugal]
[2017] Festival de Cine Europeo de Sevilla [Spain]
[2017] Panorama Internacional Coisa de Cinema [Brazil]
[2017] Festival Internacional de Cine, Antofagasta [Chile]
[2017] Zagreb Film Festival [Croatia]
[2017] Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata [Argentina]
[2017] Noite Cannes [Luxembourg]
[2017] Hiroshima International Film Festival (Grand Prix Award) [Japan]
[2017] Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote [Spain]
[2017] Caminhos do Cinema Português [Portugal]
[2017] Verín International Short Film Festival (Camira Award) [Spain]
[2017] TRANSCINEMA - Festival Internacional de No-Ficción [Peru]
[2018] Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM - FICUNAM [Mexico]
[2018] Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias - FICCI (Short Film's Jury's Special Mention)[Colombia]
[2018] Frames - Portuguese Film Festival [Sweden]
[2018] Courtisane [Belgium]
[2018] Festival Córtex [Portugal]
[2018] Encontros Cinematográficos [Portugal]
[2018] Kyiv International Short Film Festival [Ucraine]
[2018] FICIC - Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Cosquín [Argentina]
[2018] International Short Film Festival Oberhausen [Germany]
[2018] Hamburg International Short Film Festival [Germany]
[2018] LusoFilm - Glasgow [UK]
[2018] Shortcutz Ovar [Portugal]
[2018] Macao International Documentary Film Fest [Macao]
[2018] DokuFest [Kosovo]
[2018] Festival Internacional de Curtas de Belo Horizonte [Brazil]
[2018] The International Film Festival of Quito [Ecuador]
[2018] Cine Avante [Portugal]
[2018] Vista Curta - Festival de Curtas de Viseu [Portugal]
[2018] Underdox Internationales Film Festival dokument und experiment München [Germany]
[2018] Cine'Eco Seia [Portugal]
[2018] DocBuenosAires - Mostra Internacional de Cine Documental [Argentina]
[2018] Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival [Greece]
[2018] Seminci - Valladolid International Film Festival [Spain]
[2018] Nomadica [Italy]
[2018] START - International Short Film Festival [Azerbeijan]
[2018] Mostra de Cinema Atlântico da Ilha Terceira [Portugal]
[2018] Mostra de Cinema Português na Feira Internacional do Livro de Guadalajara [Mexico]
[2018] NexT International Film Festival [Romania]
[2019] Portuguese Women Directors ICS [Portugal]
[2019] Sonic Acts [Netherlands]
[2019] mumok - Vienna Modern Museum [Austria]
[2019] Perspectivas do Cinema Português, Florianopólis [Brazil]
[2019] Fête de l'Europe [France]
[2019] Fundação Saramago [Portugal]
[2019] Portuguese Film Showcase in Macao [Macao]
[2019] Cineteca Madrid [Spain]
[2019] Cinema no Aquário - Galeria Zé dos Bois [Portugal]
[2019] Cineclube do Atalante - Curitiba [Brazil]
[2019] Felix Gaudlitz Gallery [Austria]
[2019] Casa das Mudas - Madeira [Portugal]
[2019] Hongseung International Film Festival [South Korea]
[2019] Festival Accueilli à la Collection Lambert [France]
[2019] Laceno d'oro [Italy]
[2019] Mostra Perspectivas do Cinema Português no Recife [Brazil]
[2020] Les Inattendus Film Festival [France]
[2020] International Short Film Festival Oberhausen [Germany]
[2020] Cine à Roda [Portugal]
[2021] Mostra De Portugal para o Mundo - Rio de Janeiro [Brazil]
[2021] Mostra De Portugal para o Mundo - Brasília [Brazil]
[2021] Mostra De Portugal para o Mundo - São Paulo [Brazil]
[2021] Festival Cinespaña [France]
[2021] Como se Viu e Como Se Vê [Portugal]
[2022] Zeughauskino at German Historical Museum [Germany]
[2022] COMO SE VIU E COMO SE VÊ - (A)Mostra de Cinema Português [Portugal]
[2024] Cinema Fulgor [Portugal]
[2024] Cineclube de Montemor [Portugal]
[2024] MoMA [USA]

Fiction, Documentary
2017, Portugal, 25’


Scritp: Marta Mateus
Cinematography: Hugo Azevedo
Sound: Olivier Blanc, Hugo Leitão
Editing: Marta Mateus
Production: Joana Ferreira, Isabel Machado / C.R.I.M.
Co-production: Abel Ribeiro Chaves / OPTEC
Cast: Maria Clara Madeira, Gonçalo Prudêncio, Maria Catarina Sapata, José Codices, Francisco Barbeiro, Lúcia Canhoto, Mariana Nunes, Tatiana Prudêncio, João Neves, António Prudêncio, Rodrigo Rosas, Tobias Liliu, Joaquim Prudêncio, Augusto Frade, Paula Pelado

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