ABUELAS Y ABUELOS ÁRBOLES
Once There Were Commons
Film screening and conversation
22. May 2025
19.00-22.00
19.00-22.00
Save the Date
For free
all ages welcome
in English/in French/in Portuguese
In a seemingly suspended space and time, all land was held in common. Some remain part of the commons––and more could be reclaimed to the commons. The deeper the sense of belonging to a land, the deeper the strength and willingness to care for and defend it. Yet, men’s pervasive violence upon the environment keeps haunting us: concerns regarding the extensive lithium mining proposed for the mountainous regions of the north of Portugal, mining activities in the southwest of Brazil and in northern France, eroded mountains and disturbed biodiversity. Finally, a common land in South England traversed with wonder, reminding us of the Diggers who wished to hold “all things in common.”
Quando a terra foge / When the Land Runs Away
(Frederico Lobo, Portugal, 2024, 30 min, Original version with English subtitles)
Amid the fog and the labyrinth of time, while machines probe the geological depths of the mountain, a shepherd searches for an errant cow. Childhood finds its way back, the mountain transforms itself, the cycle continues.
Olhe bem as Montanhas / Look Closely at the Mountains
(Ana Vaz, Brazil, France, 2018, 30 min, Original version with English subtitles)
« Look closely at the mountains! »: the phrase was coined by artist Manfredo de Souzanetto during Brazil’s years of dictatorship. Mining activities were destroying the environment in the state of Minas Gerais in the southwest of the country. Through editing, Ana Vaz draws parallels between this region and the very distant Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern France, also marked by over three centuries of mining. On one side, eroded mountains plague its inhabitants with deadly landslides. Hollow and gutted, these mountains become the receptacles of a ghostly memory. On the other side, in France, mining waste stacks become mountains and reservoirs of biodiversity, where the threshold between nature and technology becomes indiscernible.
Black Pond
(Sarah Jessica Rinland, UK, 2018, 42 min, Original version with English subtitles)
Black Pond explores the activity within a common land in South England. Previously occupied by the 17th century agrarian socialists, the Diggers, the land is currently inhabited by a Natural History Society whose occupations include bat and moth trapping, mycology, tree measuring, and botanical walks. After two years of filming on the land, the footage was shown to the members of the Society. Their memories and responses were recorded and subsequently used as part of the film’s narration. The film intimately explores human’s relationship with and within land and nature.
This event is part of the film series The Land is Whispering: Imagine Otherwise!. You can find the whole program here: The Land is Whispering - Program.
