‘The Lands of Princess Nandayure’ is the kind of documentary we’ve been expecting in this festival for so long. It is focused on a particular geographical region, and it goes from village to village in order to present the simple and intimate stories of each community in a very particular way. The film begins with a short historic bit depicting the roots of the name ‘Nandayure’, and also presenting a riveting animated sketch of what and how everything happened. The truly amazing things this movie brings to the table are the stories of the people from different villages. The stories are, as we’ve said before, simple, but they have the great advantage of being true life stories, reason why the ‘real’ factor is always the one winning in situations like these.
The journey through the county of Nandayure has many stops, and Jose Pablo Castillo Valverde managed to emphasize the perks of each and every village, pointing out some soon to be lost arts that people still do without the use of the so-easy-to-get-machines. The story of the man that makes cane sugar was one of our favorites because it depicted the whole process step by step, and made us realize how difficult and rewarding life must be in such places where a job doesn’t involve sending emails and taking long coffee-breaks. This documentary brought us back to the basics, back to a life where the word of the day is ‘simplicity’.
Another story that really caught our attention was the one of the rock band. This story gets really engaging here, but it can easily turn into a short documentary by itself, taking in consideration that there aren’t many (or any) rock bands in that region. To make a movie about the county with only one band may be a priceless thing to do. Coming back to our story, it is inspiring to see teenagers who are living in remote regions play music and being motivated to break the barriers of the village. When the lead singer describes the music and the lyrics they are playing, we can easily see the local influences, where life itself can be the story that spins the wheels of creation in this band.
We were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful editing of this documentary and together with the well-documented stories that it incorporates, ‘The Lands of Princess Nandayure’ is the perfect product to impress large audiences anywhere around the world.
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