Amaya Sumpsi

Once upon a time there were nine distant islands, known as the Azores, to which one could only arrive after endless boat trips, and from which one could only leave after losing the fear of facing the vastness of the sea. It is this place - either real, or imagined, that the cineast pretends to reach when embarking in her peculiar voyage aboard the fast and modern ferries that now connect these islands of the Atlantic. In her trip, she finds old sea stories, pages from lost diaries, and ancient photographs that hypnotise her: there are horizons teeming with boats, commanders and quartermasters, there are pianos in the first class parlours, cattle that travels near the third and travelling salesmen, there are military, many students, some affairs and a lot of nausea, there are birth on board and days of Saint Vapour, there are storm and a terrible fear of death.

Once upon a time there were nine distant islands, known as the Azores, to which one could only arrive after endless boat trips, and from which one could only leave after losing the fear of facing the vastness of the sea. It is this place - either real, or imagined, that the cineast pretends to reach when embarking in her peculiar voyage aboard the fast and modern ferries that now connect these islands of the Atlantic. In her trip, she finds old sea stories, pages from lost diaries, and ancient photographs that hypnotise her: there are horizons teeming with boats, commanders and quartermasters, there are pianos in the first class parlours, cattle that travels near the third and travelling salesmen, there are military, many students, some affairs and a lot of nausea, there are birth on board and days of Saint Vapour, there are storm and a terrible fear of death.

Once upon a time there were nine distant islands, known as the Azores, to which one could only arrive after endless boat trips, and from which one could only leave after losing the fear of facing the vastness of the sea. It is this place - either real, or imagined, that the cineast pretends to reach when embarking in her peculiar voyage aboard the fast and modern ferries that now connect these islands of the Atlantic. In her trip, she finds old sea stories, pages from lost diaries, and ancient photographs that hypnotise her: there are horizons teeming with boats, commanders and quartermasters, there are pianos in the first class parlours, cattle that travels near the third and travelling salesmen, there are military, many students, some affairs and a lot of nausea, there are birth on board and days of Saint Vapour, there are storm and a terrible fear of death.

At a 2005 Carnival night, something mysterious happens at Porto Formoso bay, leaving the fishing boats wrecked. Fishermen decide to build bigger boats, but at the small village harbor it is impossible to deck them. They demand the construction of a new harbor, but many inhabitants are opposed due to a Castle ruins that lay there. If to some residents ruins look worthless, for others they are the village soul and future, as a lot of tourists would like to visit them...While the landscape transforms, we follow the Director voice through the story of the last seven years of this community.

At a 2005 Carnival night, something mysterious happens at Porto Formoso bay, leaving the fishing boats wrecked. Fishermen decide to build bigger boats, but at the small village harbor it is impossible to deck them. They demand the construction of a new harbor, but many inhabitants are opposed due to a Castle ruins that lay there. If to some residents ruins look worthless, for others they are the village soul and future, as a lot of tourists would like to visit them...While the landscape transforms, we follow the Director voice through the story of the last seven years of this community.