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A SHEPHERD'S TALE

À PROCURA DA ESTRELA

By Carlos MARTÍNEZ-PEÑALVER MAS

OMEN SCP - as PROD

Action/Adventure - Completed 2023

Xoel, a landscape phonographer, arrives to Serra da Estrela to record sounds which are about to disappear from Portugal's highest peak. A mysterious melody will drive him to a quest to record its source, losing himself into the mountains.

Festivals
& Awards

L'Alternativa 2020
Mentoring Projects - Premio Kinolux
Porto/Post/Doc 2021
Arché Award
Belfort 2021
Film en cours, Prize to the postproduction
Ventana Sur 2022
Spanish Screenings On Tour
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    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • Action/Adventure, Environmental, Documentary
    • Countries
    • SPAIN, PORTUGAL
    • Languages
    • PORTUGUESE, SPANISH
    • Budget
    • 0 - 0.3 M$
    • Duration
    • 77 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Carlos MARTÍNEZ-PEÑALVER MAS
    • Producer(s)
    • Nico M. MILLÁN (OMEN SCP)
    • Synopsis
    • On a clear night, a young shepherd loses the last sheep of his flock. Faced with his misfortune, a star appears before him and proposes a journey beyond the mountains where he was born. Thus begins the legend that gives its name to the region with the highest mountain in Portugal: Serra da Estrela.

      Xoel, a landscape phonographer, goes to Serra da Estrela to carry out an acoustic mapping of the place, searching for the sounds of the rural areas that are on the verge of extinction. To pay for his stay, he undertakes to volunteer in the reconstruction of an old shepherd’s path. Zé María, a long-time activist in the area, will be his patron and will teach Xoel the secrets of trail construction and the importance of welcoming environmentally conscious tourism. Xoel, who has little interest in the teachings of his master, escapes whenever he can to record sounds, but what he finds does not have the authenticity he is looking for.

      Xoel investigates and talks to the natives of Serra da Estrela, including four parishioners and a waitress who continually discuss the possible meanings of the legend of the shepherd and the star. Xoel will also get closer to Joaquim, one of the last transhumant shepherds in the mountains, with whom he will
      learn about the hardness of the shepherd’s life. Joaquim will insist to Xoel that none of the sounds he is looking for survive; everything that was about to disappear has already disappeared, and the mountain range is turning into a desert due to the touristification of the place.

      Xoel will lose confidence in his project, until, at the top of the path where he works with Zé María, the sound of a mysterious melody will make him regain faith in his search. Xoel will follow it until he gets lost in a fog that floods the mountains and ruins Xoel’s recording equipment.

      In that moment of crisis, Xoel finds a small chapel in the fog, where a mysterious lonely shepherd will give him shelter and clothes to spend the night. And he will tell him that the sound he was hearing comes from a
      star. After this encounter, Xoel’s journey will become a transcription of the shepherd’s path in the legend and fantasy will permeate the story. The melody will be his star, which will test him by making him cross the desert landscapes of Serra da Estrela, held captive by two soldiers who want to take him to a greedy king.

      When Xoel escapes from his captors and manages to reach the top of the mountain, he discovers that the melody he has been following throughout his journey comes from the loudspeakers of a shopping center, which he uses as a lure for his customers. Xoel, dressed as a shepherd, is astonished to see how the search that has led him to the top of the mountain is no different from that of the hordes of customers who come to the shopping center to buy the typical products of Serra da Estrela.

      At the end of the film, Xoel finds himself lost alone in the mountains. Until a flock of sheep appears to guide him towards a new life.
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