O Mar Enrola na Areia

In the days of the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal, folk tales circulated about the semi-mythical figure of a smartly dressed man on a beach who would blow on a whistle to gather children around him, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. There were many different versions of the man’s background: was he a pedophile, perhaps, or the inconsolable father of a drowned girl? Others thought him to be a summer version of Santa Claus, or a vagabond who for some unspecified reason was supported and protected by members of the elite. Catarina Mourão had long forgotten about the childhood story of the “whistle man,” but then she came across a collection of amateur films in which he features in various guises. She reconstructs the story of the bogeyman using silent film-style text frames, the  sound of crashing waves and carefree children at play, and music that alternates between melancholy and ominous. In the process, she evokes a period in Portuguese history that is enveloped in collective silence and the fog of myth. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)