Eco das montanhas. A viagem da palavra

(Mountain Echo. Word’s Journey)
by André Costantin
44’, HDV, Brasile, 2008

A fascinating and intricate linguistic voyage: emigrants from the Veneto region, who once left the upper plains of Asiago and the Lessinia mountains, still speak the antique Cimbric dialect in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. The memory of this antique, and almost vanished, language becomes a bridge between two realities that are distant geographically, yet linked by the bond of history, traditions, and memories. The meeting between a young Italian and an elderly Brazilian, daughter of Italian immigrants, in southern Brazil, leads these words to be remembered and an old, forgotten song to echo once again in the identity of people and cultures separated by time, history, and the ocean. The memory that joins them delays the twilight of a language and a tradition born in the Old World; on the contrary, it adds to the intricate tangle of the origins and influences of Brazilian culture.

André Costantin
A journalist, with a degree in regional languages and cultures from the University of Caxias do Sul, André Costantin, born in 1968, has worked since 1996 as a director and documentary filmmaker. He has realized numerous shorts and documentaries dedicated primarily to the theme of the culture and historical  memory of Brazil.