A Mãe e o Mar
The Mother and the Sea
A film where old sailors’ tales and folkloric myths become one with reality against the sound of rolling waves, which almost lets you smell the salty sea. The fishing community Vila Chã on the Portuguese coast is known for its female skippers. A local paper claims that it is the only place of its kind in the world. The people here have lived off and with the sea as long as anyone can remember. A small film crew arrives to make a film about its ageing inhabitants, and the result is a generous and tragicomic fresco with plenty of space for small and large stories from the proud people of the seas. But there are not that many of them left. In the last scene, an old sailor smokes a pipe and holds a long soliloquy to the sea – a sincere and unsentimental love declaration to the mother of all living things.
Director's Biography
Gonçalo Tocha, born 1979 in Lisbon, Portugal. He graduated at the Faculty of Humanities in Lisbon where he founded the cine-club “NuCiVo”. BALAOU (2007) was his debut feature film, selected at the Viennale 2007 followed by IT'S THE EARTH NOT THE MOON, awarded in Locarno 2011. THE MOTHER AND THE SEA was presented at Rome FF in 2013 and was also selected for the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2014. // Films (selected): BYE BYE MY BLACKBIRD (2006, short), BALAOU (2007, doc), É NA TERRA NÃO É NA LUA (It’s the Earth Not the Moon, 2011, doc), A MÃE E O MAR (The Mother and the Sea, 2013, doc)
European Panorama Documentary 2014
Gonçalo Tocha
Portugal 2013
color
97 minutes
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay Gonçalo Tocha
Cinematography Andre Guiomar, Gonçalo Tocha
Editing Gonçalo Tocha, Rui Ribeiro, Andre Guiomar
Sound/Sounddesign João Cruz
Production
Curtas Metragens Crl Auditorio Municipal Pr. da Republica 4480-715 Vila do Conde Portugal T +351 252 646 683 F +351 252 638 027 agencia@curtas.pt www.curtas.pt