CITY / C.U.L.T.U.R.E.
The documentary concerns the perception of local identity in the historical centre of Córdoba (Spain), which is an attempt to “make out” the sense of belonging to a specific place that is not only a geographical space but also a “place of the soul”, a space where, trough cultural and social references, it is possible for an individual to recognize and define the oneself.
It is based on interviews made in exterior in the historical center’s main streets and next to places with meaningful architectonic landscapes (in order to investigate the locals’ knowledge of their own cultural patrimony), as well as in interior locations. Street interviews, on one hand, take the interview subject by surprise in order to obtain spontaneous answers on the perception of the Self in relation to the place. On the other hand, three interior interviews with special testimonial from the fields of culture, show business and architecture, but specific topics arrange before the interview which are made in the interior of places related to the everyday activities of each interview subject.
The documentary intends to investigate the emic (of natives) point of view on the elements that determine the sense of belonging to a place and to a community. Through the questionnaire, interview subjects are stimulated to define the elements that for them are indicative of their own cultural patrimony and that made them feel like members of a specific cultural and territorial area (architectural and natural landscapes, immaterial patrimony). For this reason, the documentary is halfway between the reportage and the socio-anthropological investigation and gives an ironical look at the stereotypes related to the territory in order to deconstruct them and give them a new key to the reading.