Aqui Jaz a Minha Casa (Here Rests My Home)

Imagine waking up with the feeling that this will be your last day, and knowing that there is nobody left in the village to attend your funeral

Here Rests My Home is a heartfelt effort of a first time filmmaker. First time, really? Yes, Rui Pilão had no experience nor any theory background, but he knew he wanted to become a director, so he did all the research he can and read a lot of filmmaking books. Certainly not as easy said than done, but after feeling ready, Rui managed to find a cinematographer to help him realize his project.

The film is about an old man living a lonesome life in a seemingly deserted town. Sick and completely abandoned, he is ready to dig to the foundation of his routs to make sure he stays in the town forever.

This isn’t just a story I thought, it’s a message to those who forgot their roots…all villages are disappearing because young people go to the cities to find jobs and they leave the old people behind, alone.

Although quite simple and slow paced, the film is arrogantly edited with strong alienating bass distortions as a soundtrack, which clash with such brilliance with the image if a lonely old man in a small town. The film is also fed by its wonderful shots and movements, capturing the great textures surrounding old southern European towns, created only with a self-made 12 Euro dolly and a Caterpillar excavator lent by a villager from the town.

This short firm is very close to my heart because my grandparents live in that village, my great grandfather is buried in that cemetery, it’s the first grave you see when the old man walks there.

Here Rests My Home is touching and captivating. The sometimes disturbing image of the old man in his underwear going through his daily routine with an apparent sickness spitting out blood can be very heart-breaking. But the graphical uses of the scenes is what empowers the film.

Rui and his team did simply a fantastic job at creating such a moving film with so little budget.

You can also see clips of Here Rests My Home in Film Shortage’s This Is Who We Are Trailer