email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

UNDERGROWTH

by David Gutiérrez Camps

synopsis

Musa Camara (Mauritania, 28 years old) doesn’t have a job. He spends his days alone, wondering around the beautiful forests and chaotic residential areas that surround Cassà de la Selva, the village he lives in. He tries to find pinecones and brushwood to gather which he later sells to small businesses in the area. With the tiny profit from these transactions, this young African man lives meagerly in a house shared with other migrants. Due to the risky nature of this work, Musa occasionally tries to find work in the residential areas. Often though, he doesn’t know what to do and simply wanders around. He lives on the fringes of 21st century European society, but his job is the oldest in existence: the gathering of nature’s resources. With a slow tempo and few words, the camera follows Musa in his adventures around the daily life of a country that still suffers the ravaging consequences of a burst housing bubble. Musa fights to survive in a primitive, beautiful way. UNDERGROWTH is a witness to the collision between a young African man and the Spanish society he unsuccessfully tries to integrate. Somehow, Musa seems to keep his spirits high: the rivers of his sadness ow underground.

international title: Undergrowth
original title: Sotabosc
country: Spain
year: 2017
genre: fiction
directed by: David Gutiérrez Camps
film run: 77'
screenplay: David Gutiérrez Camps
cast: Musa Camara, Deborah Marín, Samba Diallo, Bbangaly Coulidaly, Felisia Casadevall
cinematography by: Aïda Torrent
film editing: David Gutiérrez Camps
music: Pau Guillamet
executive producer: John Bartleby, Albert Baquero Roig
production: John Bartleby Films, Camille Zonca

Privacy Policy