The legend of an ancient and forgotten civilization lies buried under a large expanse of dunes. For more than a century, a number of travelers have reached this remote and desolate territory looking for the traces of ancient inhabitants, the ruins of a city, or perhaps a sort of lost utopia.
Ignorant of these myths and the romantic delusions of archaeologists and adventurers, a few men, barely visible among the sands, today inhabit in solitude that place facing the sea.
Title: El mar nos mira de lejos
Internacional title: The sea stares at us from afar
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 92 minutes
Shooting format: HD
Screening format: DCP
Country of production: Spain · Netherlands
Original language: Spanish
Subtitles: English · French
Filming locations: Doñana (Huelva, Spain)
Produced by: El Viaje Films · Azhar Media · CTM docs · 59 en Conserva
Production year: 2016
Release Date: 10 February 2017 (Berlin International Film Festival)
Color: Color
Aspect Ratio: 1:1,85
Sound: Dolby SR
Director and writer: Manuel Muñoz
Executive producer Azhar Media: Azhar Media · José Manuel Rodríguez · Sara Sánchez
Executive producer El Viaje Films: José Alayón
Executive producer CTM Docs: Rosan Boersma
Executive producer 59 en Conserva: Irene M. Borrego
Cinematography by: Mauro Herce
Film editing by: Cristóbal Fernández
Sounds recordist: Joaquín Pachón
Sound designer: Jeroen Goeijers
- Berlin International Film Festival
- Hong Kong International Film Festival
- Festival du Cinéma Espagnol de Toulouse (Best Documentary Award)
- Sevilla International Film Festival (De Lux Award)
- L´Alternativa Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona (Critics´Award – Best Feature Film)
I wanted to make a film as an exploration of a territory, a film that was in itself an investigation, a journey, not born of calculation but of desire. Making the film gives me the opportunity to find a fair distance from which to look at these men and their way of being in the world, to enter a realm that I do not know and that seduces me, and to intuit secret rhythms that seem to govern it. But instead of giving in to the temptation to dramatize that observed world and reduce it to a series of symbols and univocal meanings, I have tried to keep a respectful distance before its mystery.
Manuel Muñoz
