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THE SONG OF THE YEARS TO COME
EL CANTO DE LOS AÑOS NUEVOS
Spain | 2023 | 23 min
A journey to the mysterious island of Gomera, an ancestral, timeless place where past and present mingle, reconnecting the inhabitants with the ancient history of their ancestors. In the seclusion of the mountains, a man wanders through the caves dreaming of flying; some children walk through the woods discovering the sounds of the forest; others meet in a laboratory and examine the remains of those who lived on the island long ago. Departing from the lyrics of the traditional Gomera song "El Canto des Los Años Nuevos", Alexander Cabeza makes a poetic and fascinating film with evocative atmospheres and rarefied landscapes across which the whistle of silbo, an ancient form of communication still in use on the island, resounds. Made in collaboration with the locals, El Canto des Los Años Nuevos offers the vision of a participatory documentary practice that involves the voices of the locals in the creative process and uses play and imagination as tools for investigating the territory. (s.c.)