by The documentary filmed on the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros, which connects Braga to Santiago de Compostela, entitled “O Meu Caminho”, by director Pedro Gil Vasconcelos, has already been screened at 16 festivals in Europe, America and Asia, it has been announced today. .
The reception to the film, shot two years ago, “has been very good and the general opinion is that the landscapes are beautiful,” says the director, quoted in a statement by the Cross-Border Association of Caminhos da Guerra and Arrieiros.
The film has already received six awards, three honorable mentions, been selected for six official selections and was once a semi-finalist.
The director, born in Porto, adds that he “did not foresee the results that the documentary would bring, although he “knew that he had an interesting product capable of generating interest”, as has happened so far in Portugal, Germany, Bhutan. , Canada, Korea, Spain, USA, France, Great Britain, India, Iran, Italy, Japan and Turkey.
“It is possible” is still shown in other festivals, waiting for Pedro Gil Vasconcelos for “results and invitations” to present “O Meu Caminho”, produced by Complete Mente, edited by Marcos Nunes (Cia Films) and supported by Jorge Medeiros (VideoContact).
The film completed a long-cherished project. “I had planned a documentary about the Camino de Santiago, but I could not gather the conditions for its production,” he recalls, emphasizing the role of Adriano Carneiro, his “traveling companion and protagonist of the documentary.”
“In 2021 I decided to continue the project and change its size, adapt it to new forms of production. The evolution brought about by mobile phones allowed me to approach film from a current perspective, with low impact and with highly controlled costs,” explains Pedro Gil Vasconcelos, graduate of cinema and audiovisual from the Escola Superior Artística do Porto.
“I understood that this would have to be a project with a very limited budget. I opted for the low carbon impact of the production and therefore used public transport and the entire filming phase was on foot. And also for using my cell phone every day. After that, it was more of an exercise in writing and imagination than anything else,” he adds.
As for the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros, he followed its progress: “I was careful and above all worried. I understand that this path must be preserved and not fall into massification. The presence of pilgrims, in numbers comparable to other trails, will be a danger to the Peneda Gerês National Park,” says the director.
Data recently revealed by the installation committee of the Cross-Border Union of the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros shows that in 2022 fewer than three pilgrims per day, on average, traveled, and a total of three thousand in the last six years.
The Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros starts from Braga Cathedral and passes through the municipalities of Amares, Terras de Bouro and Melgaço, entering Galicia via Portela Homem.
