Every four years, the residents of Campo Maior, in Portugal’s arid Alentejo region, reinvent their village: each street is lavishly decorated with paper flowers, painstakingly handmade in the months before being put on display. Rui Silveira films this tradition in his birthplace, taking us on a trip out of time. Capturing the smallest details, he conveys the patience and skill that go into a beautiful ephemeral art that brings the community’s spirit to life; meanwhile, questions related to rurality and exile keep cropping up in the conversations. The fragility of the paper flowers, threatened as much by the weather as by souvenir-hungry tourists, is a window on an ages-old world struggling to protect its integrity.

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Production and Crew