OCUPAI – Iberian Art and Action Festival
June 22 and 23, 2019 (2pm – 8pm)
Parque de Lazer do Espírito Santo (Cambra, Vouzela)
Geographic coordinates: 40.683134, -8.164793
Co-organised by: Binaural Nodar, Vouzela Municipality and the Parish of Cambra e Carvalhal de Vermilhas
Funding: Government of Portugal, Directorate-General for the Arts, under a biennial support agreement
OCUPAI – Iberian Art and Action Festival returns in 2019 for its fifth edition, this time settling for two days where the Couto river meets the Alfusqueiro river, in one of the most pleasant spots around: Parque de Lazer do Espírito Santo, where cold waters flow down from the Caramulo mountains, where the vegetation is lush, where old traditions are still celebrated (such as the feast of the Holy Spirit), and where farm work remains very much alive, in a place surrounded by fields and with a still-working water mill. It is in this spirit of closeness, of rebuilding community, that OCUPAI will bring two afternoons of unhurried, sensitive time to be enjoyed quietly.
The OCUPAI Festival is a small festival for the whole family, offering direct contact between artists and audiences, and it aims to bring the Lafões region closer to neighbouring regions. This year it features representatives from the Lafões region, from Beira Litoral, and from the Spanish region of Castile and León, which lies along the A25 motorway corridor, bringing together artistic works that explore, in innovative ways, aspects of oral tradition and cultural heritage that are largely shared.
Among the many proposals hosted by the Ocupai Festival, the long philharmonic tradition of the municipality of Vouzela will be celebrated, blending the notes of the Filarmónica Verdi Cambrense with the sound of birds and the murmur of the river; visitors will be able to see and hear personal stories of love for Portugal filmed on Super 8 (the documentary “Nazaré, 1964” by Fernando Santiago), images, tales, songs and memories about the wolf in the oral tradition of the northwest Iberian Peninsula (the documentary “Esta noche es mía…” by Victor Casas), accounts, songs and sounds from the heritage of flax-growing in rural Europe (the installation “Habi-lin” by Binaural/Nodar), traditional Iberian music inheriting its many origins (“Música Trashumante” by Carlos Herrero), regional theatre recalling the rural interludes of times past (theatre groups from the senior universities of São Pedro do Sul and Vouzela, and “Tia Graça” by d’Orfeu Associação Cultural), the wonderful musical songbook of the Lafões region (Grupo de Trajes e Cantares de Cambra, Os Vouguinhas and Vozes Da Terra – Actividades Musicais), and, for the youngest audiences, the wonderful show “Hasta las gotas” by the Salamanca-based company La Risa de la Tortuga.
The festival will also include several parallel activities promoted by various associations and organisations present on site, as well as a children’s area and stalls selling crafts, sweets and regional products.
Further information:
Tel. 232 723 160 | Mobile 919 257 865 | email: diana.silva@binauralmedia.org