Interview by Rui Pastorin
A trilingual documentary entitled “Heritople” will premiere at Cinematheque•Passion on Travessa da Paixão (戀愛巷) on Saturday, with the film aiming to expand the connection between people and local heritage.
Lasting just over an hour, the film features testimonies from eight interviewees that aim to help audiences understand the importance of cultural legacy, as well as preserving and continuing it, according to a statement from the International Institute of Macau (IIM), which produced the Macao Foundation-sponsored film.
The film’s director António Salas Sanmarful told the Post in an interview yesterday at IIM on Rua de Berlim (栢林街) that when the institute proposed the project to him, he wanted to do something different. Rather than just looking at heritage sites and monuments, focus is placed on people and their stories.
“I wanted to do something different, or explore a different part of heritage like the people”, touching on several points such as how heritage affects people in civil society and how the city is a “migrant society”.
IIM Secretary-General António Monteiro, who was interviewed with Sanmarful, added that people normally only associate heritage with monuments, but he emphasised that there is more to it than that, noting its intangible aspects, events and festivities as examples. “This documentary will focus exactly on the identity, memory and culture”.
The film comprises testimonies from Na Tcha Temple Association President Ip Tat; Macao Cultural Heritage Reinventing Studies Association President Harry Kwah Hou Ieong; IIM President Jorge Rangel; Macau Heritage Ambassadors Association (MHAA) President Matias Lao Hon Pong; “O Santos” Restaurant owner Santos Pinto; Secondary education teacher and Júbilo 31 bookstore founder Lin Yin Cong; Architect André Lui Chak Keong; and Macanese Cultural Research Association President Elisabela Larrea. Each speaks on the importance of cultural heritage and their experiences in Macau, telling personal stories that are connected to the culture in Macau or the city’s heritage elements, according to Sanmarful.
An idea that he also wanted to convey in the film was the feeling of finding out that there is more to be seen in Macau than we think, while there are also stories to be found through interaction, Sanmarful added.
Moreover, Monteiro pointed out: “We want people to also be more connected not only with the monuments…because the people should be also celebrated. Maybe the living stones, or ‘pedras vivas’ in Portuguese, they are the main people to move the city with festivities, several actions or events, traditional or not, but they are doing it from Macau. So, heritage cannot be separated from people, and people from the heritage. I think this is the main message here. But the focus is mainly on Macau.”
“You can’t have heritage without the people. Or if you don’t have the people, the heritage makes no sense”, Sanmarful emphasised. “It’s Heritople, right? Heritage and people” Sanmarful added.
“Heritople” is an artificial word created for the film, a portmanteau that combines the sounds and meanings of two different words – heritage and people.
Though Saturday’s premiere already has a full house, they intend to do more screenings in institutions like universities and garner a bigger audience as well as show the film at festivals, according to Monteiro. Moreover, as IIM is a resource centre for everyone, Monteiro pointed out that someday the film could, perhaps, also be a good resource for people.
The film’s trailer can be viewed on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oE9V-71olI&t=7s
This poster provided by the International Institute of Macau (IIM) earlier this week promotes “Heritople”, which premieres this Saturday at Cinematheque•Passion.
