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About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
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Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
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About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
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RAI FILM
Login
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Twitter
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
Menu
About
About RAI Film
Meet the team
Prices
Film Distribution
Watch on demand
Ethnographic Film Catalogue
Teaching resources
RAI Film Festival
About RAI Film Festival
Film Festival 2025
Film Festival 2025 Group passes
Film Festival prizes and awards
Film Conference 2025
Archive of past editions
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Films
found one film
with a digital version available
x
Region
“Western Mediterranean”
x
Country
“Spain”
x
Keywords
“Herding”
x
Directors
“Carr, Peter”
x
Status
“A”
x
films with a digital version
1
x
Region
Western Mediterranean
1
x
Country
Spain
1
x
Keywords
Collective / Community identity
1
Herding
1
x
Rural
1
Directors
Carr, Peter
1
x
Series
Disappearing World Series
1
Country of production
United Kingdom
1
Year of production
1989
1
Status
Film
The Villagers of Sierra de Gredos
1989
52
‘
Directed by
Peter Carr
.
The 130 villagers of Navalguijo in the Sierra de Gredos of Central Spain live in a village perched high in the mountains and they face an extreme climate with very cold winters and hot summers. The soil is acid and poor, and the steep slopes and short growing season mean that agriculture cannot provide a living. Collectively the villagers own summer pastures high in the mountains, and individually they hold smaller autumn pastures. With access to winter pastures across the mountains in the region of Extremadura, they are able to maintain a large herd of beef cattle, which form their main source of wealth and which are their dearest possessions. To make this film, the crew joined the village men on their trek to Extremadura, when they drive their cattle down the mountains. This cattle drive is a mixture of hard work and holiday, with passing round of leather wine bottles, story-telling and evening stopovers at favourite inns punctuating the long march. This film portrays a society whose ideals of village co-operation and the rigid and efficient organisation of tasks have given the village a strong sense of identity over generations. It remains to be seen if this sense of identity survives the breakdown of their isolation from the outside world as tourists discover ‘hidden Spain’ and better communications and roads bring increasing contact with the rest of the country.
Western Mediterranean
Herding
Rural
Collective / Community identity