Historia de pastores

A lively geologist working as an intern at the Prehistory and Paleontological Museum of Orce in Granada meets a badly hurt shepherd. This chance encounter plants the seed of Historia de pastores, an adventurous film that finds a perfect mixture between the old and the new. Dwelling equally on orality and charged silence, suggestion and contemplation, Jaime Puertas Castillo builds an engaging narrative of rural life in the south of Spain – punctuated by extraneous elements plus some powerful, surprising twists.

Discoveries regarding the prehistoric settlements of the region, stories about ancestors remembered and retold on Andalusian patios, homesteads that were once the centre of life but today lie in ruins, abandoned, forgotten… These are some of the images at the centre of the film. But this is no mere dive into the past. There’s also the internet causing mysterious afflictions, a drone lurking in the skies, a digital app with curious superpowers… With a small cast that guarantees authenticity – including a dedicated flock of sheep – Historia de pastores is a moving, humble and humorous film where the felt homage to tradition goes hand in hand with a taste for the supernatural and the fantastique.

– Cristina Álvarez López