A walk through the city of Maputo (Mozambique) becomes a poetic visual essay. The film is inspired by two Mozambican poems, from which it borrows the following themes: shoes, time, space, history, humanity, reading the asphalt, seagulls and hibiscus flowers. Scenes from everyday life and series of portraits from strangers I met in the streets, are linked with radio loops and ambient sounds from Maputo (the film was filmed with a Bolex and the sound is non-sync). The film is honest about the intrusive effects of a camera and the curious gaze of a stranger, but gradually this evolves into more relaxed encounters. Strangeness, obstruction and mutual unease are step by step replaced by cross-cultural contact and communication and mutual enchantment. Distance and closeness are both measured in (film) feet: the theme for a possible poem, and the theme for a possible film.
PLease note that this a file derived of a video copy of the film, hence the film has not the same sharpness and visual impact as when the film is screened on film on a big screen.
