The essence of Setúbal is related to the population and the traditions of the community. From the fishermen’s quarters, to the markets and the places where Setúbal figures have passed, from Bocage to Luísa Todi, there are always stories to be told, whether from a more or less recent past, which should be heard in all parts of the world.
That is why the city has been the stage for major national and international productions. An example of the desire to elevate Setúbal beyond borders is the screening of the films “Belvedere” and “Salt on Blood”, by João Bordeira and Sérgio Brás d’Almeida, on April 11 and 12, on the island of São Vicente, in Cape Verde.
At the invitation of Cape Verdean film director and professor Leão Lopes and choreographer António Tavares, the works will be broadcast at the Mindelo Cultural Centre, in an initiative in collaboration with the University Institute of Art, Technology and Culture of Mindelo. The two films have recently received support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for an internationalisation project, which has the partnership of the Municipality of Setúbal, the Union of Parishes of Setúbal and the Parish Council of São Sebastião.
The productions will be presented on May 14, at the Portuguese da Praia Cultural Center, on Santiago Island, in a “program that includes a meeting between film professionals for the development of an exchange project between Setúbal and Cape Verde,” explains the municipality. The initiative aims to foster cultural sharing and involves “screenwriters, directors and film producers from Cape Verde to present works in Setúbal, in a circuit that takes people from Setúbal to show work in that African archipelago”.
“Belvedere” is a naturalistic documentary combined with fiction, focused on the “dynamics of Bairro de São Domingos, one of the oldest places in Setúbal, in a latent nostalgia for what was in the past and is no longer, and which is still alive”.
“Salt on Blood“, a documentary by the same directors with the collaboration of anthropologist Mariana Macedo Dias, “documents life stories, daily difficulties and the connection to the sea of the fishermen of Setúbal, and shares stories of men aged between 34 and 85 years, who remember a better fishing past”.
