Abstract

This paper covers the making of a documentary film about LOCUS - Playful Connected Rural Territories, a project developed by the University of Aveiro, and the projects relations with the land of Amiais, a small village in central Portugal where 20 people, mainly seniors, live. LOCUS’ objective is to develop a way to use the internet of things as means to promote intergenerational interaction while exploring and learning about rural territories’ cultural heritage.
In a first moment, we make a short reflection over the portraits of rural Portugal in documentary films and after we focus on the process of conception and production of a short documentary film about rural Portugal.
We found out that there are several ways to frame the rural. A series of preconceived ideas dominate what we perceive as the countryside and the people that live in it. Those social representations are often marked by an idea of immutability, like the rural is the same as it always was, a place that is frozen in time when, in truth, the rural has been going through several changes in its landscape, changes that are provoking a sort of identity crisis.