CinemaAttic Mulleres da Raia (Women from the Border)

On Friday Cinemaattic looks specifically on films about A Raia, the border between Portugal and Galicia. The years of ‘contrabando’ (smuggling) and the close relation between inhabitants north and south of the border.

Never mind the US - Mexico 'Frontera', something exciting is happening in the westernmost corner of Europe. Geopolitical borders can't split a shared way to frame reality. The boundary between Spain and Portugal is supposed to be one of the most – if not the most – fixed and stable borders in the world, with some authors stating that it has a history of almost a thousand years. The fact a geopolitical border says they are different countries, Portuguese and Galicians have a common serene way to understand life.

Mulleres da Raia (Women from the Border) by Diana Gonçalves + Short

MULLERES DA RAIA - Two voyages: in space, along a river that serves as frontier between Portugal and Spain; and in time, through memories delivered on camera by a handful of old women, who fought with determination against the law, poverty, and illiteracy to provide for basic sustenance to their families. A few men add independent testimony to the hard life of those women smugglers: a railway's man and two customs officers.

A programme that aims to look at the Influence of established borders between countries in today's world and the way humans debunk those geographic limits, challenging politics and power.