Borders of Europe #2 Rio de Onor

CONFINI D’EUROPA (BORDERS OF EUROPE)

a six-documentary films-series by Corso Salani

produced by Vivo film

in collaboration with RAI 3 Fuori orario

While the never-ending flux of mass tourism seems to have reached all destinations and taken possession of every distant corner on Earth, a few places are still resisting the assault. Some of them even exist in Europe: spaces where attractions, social contradictions and geographic peculiarities are gathered together. Because such places are unknown to most of us, Borders of Europe traces a journey to forgotten but fascinating corners of the European continent. These marginal areas possess a secret beauty, an intimate “borderline” poetry. Director Corso Salani’s six-stage journey leads him to discover uncertain, forgotten realities. He shows us particular contexts and controversial situations, fascinating for their “borderline” qualities. In some cases, we discover a bridge between different cultures and worlds. Under various pretexts, each journey also involves a different female guide. Together, they represent the multiple faces of femininity. These strongwilled, stubborn, intelligent women are simultaneously travelling companions, accomplices, and even a mirror through which he observes himself. They are sensitive and complex creatures, investigated and laid bare by the movie camera, which captures their skin, mutable as a landscape, reflecting the secret beauty of things.

Confini D’Europa #2 Rio De Onor (Borders of Europe #2 Rio de Onor)

A FILM BY CORSO SALANI

 

Portugal is filled with contradictions and disparities, a country still oscillating between Western riches and a poverty which is far from overcome. In the north of the country, hidden among mountains, are isolated and forgotten valleys which retain an ancient and amazing beauty.

The village of Rio de Onor, sliced in two by the Portugese-Spanish border, looks like a medieval relic, a place left behind by modernity. The grey roofs of the stone houses, the silences in the wild fields, the mysterious sounds of Mirandese, the ancient language spoken by the few inhabitants, the suffocating sense of solitude and isolation… It’s all enough to make one want to run away as fast as possible. But images of Rio de Onor come to mind like violent flashes, bearing a disarming sense of nostalgia.

Anette, a Portuguese assistant to the director, is our guide as we discover this part of the world.