FILMS

Documentary

Synopsis

Gonzalo is a farmer who lives with his family in a village in Ribera del Duero in northern Castile in central Spain. The ancient, wise tradition of producing the food they eat, from the slaughter of a pig to their own wine, has worked very well for them at this time of crisis in Spain. The village is also scarred by factory closures and unemployment, while small farmers suffer from the conditions continually imposed by the food industry.

Sowing and harvest, like fiestas and customs, mark the annual cycle with its many difficulties and problems, but also its joys and satisfaction.

“SINCE THE WORLD WAS WORLD” is a portrayal of the other Spain, less familiar, struggling to survive in the villages between tradition and the crisis.

The film is also understood as homage to simple things, the natural, and the refreshing rebellion of living wisdom.

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Credits

Directed, editing & cinematography: Günter Schwaiger
Sound: Cristina García Alía
Production: Günter Schwaiger, Cristina García Alía
Editing: Günter Schwaiger, Martin Eller
with: Luis Gonzalo Martínez Arranz, Rosa Ríos Monge, Luis Martínez Ríos, Rodrigo Martínez Ríos, Guillermo Martínez Ríos

Produced by: Mosolov-P (Spain) + Günter Schwaiger Film Produktion (Austria)
Supported by: BKA Austria, Land Salzburg, Stadt Salzburg

Festivals

DocumentaMadrid (2015, Spain)
Ecozine Zaragoza (2015, Spain)
World Premieres FF Philippines (2015,Manila)
Festiver, Festival Internacional de Cine Verde Barichara (2015, Colombia)
Hofer Filmtage (2015, Germany)
Viennale (2015, Austria)
Dok Leipzig (2015, Germany)
Heimatfilmfestival Freistadt (2016,Austria)
Internacional Agro Film Festival (2016, Slovakia)
IFF de Cine Verde (2015, Colombia)
Dok Leipzig (2015, Germany)
Finca Buenos Aires IFF (2016, Argentina)
Festival „Walser Herbst“, (2016, Austria)
Film Festival Radstadt (2016, Austria)

IFF Documental Etnográfico Espiello (2016, Spain)
IFF Bolzano Bozen (2016, Italy)
Cinema planeta IFF (2016, Mexico)
Muestra de Cine Documental Burgos (2016, Spain)

Awards

Best Director Award – International Agro Film Festival, Slovakia 2016
Mención de Honor – Festival Internacional de Cine Verde Colombia 2015
Cine Verde Award – World Premiere Film Festival Philippines 2015
HWF Award Nomination – Dok Leipzig 2015

Director`s Statement

About the Film

I met Gonzalo, a farmer in a village in Burgos, at the exhumation of a mass grave from the Spanish civil war. I realised immediately that he was no ordinary man and we have since then continued to maintain a very close friendship from which I have learned much about his sage, crystal-clear vision of the world, with its abundant common sense. Gonzalo and his family demonstrate that it is possible to live between the past and the future, retaining what is useful and adopting what the new has to give, and shows that it is not necessary to life in the metropolis to broaden our horizons.

Günter Schwaiger

Press

Press voices

“Also in terms of fidelity to reality, Günter Schwaiger’s candid view of the rural world in Since the World was World must be highlighted. An approach, if not anthropological, able to take aim at the crisis, historic memory, genetic engineering, depopulation and the tradition of self-sufficiency imposed by life in the country.” – Caimán de Cinema

“A great film, with heart, talent and intellect.” – Erich Hackl, Die Presse

“A film about the beauty of simple things” – Michael Pekler, Der Standard

“The loving portrait of a different Spain” – Michael Omasta, Falter

“A clear, meditative and sincere film about life on the European periphery” – Magdalena Miedl, Salzburger Nachrichten

“A pictorial, loving homage to a disappearing way of life, impresses immensely” – APA

FILMS

SINCE THE WORLD WAS WORLD