Director's note

Gastão spends his days waiting. When he goes into action, it's because someone jumped, committed suicide, decided to die.

Gastão has already made peace with their decision. He serves the relatives, the families, by giving them bodies to say goodbye.

Gastão exists. Charon doesn't exist.

Charon is a boatman from Greek mythology whose gestures Gastão imitates: ‘return to the earth what belongs to the earth’.

In this film, the two men are one, one is inside the other, just as the influence of Greek myths remains imbued in Portuguese culture.

Water unites them, their movements complete each other. Gastão didn't rescue his sister's body. Perhaps Charon will do it for him. Gastão is seen through a lens that seeks a truth: mine.

Gastão exists. So does Charon.

Tânia Gomes Teixeira, director

Tânia Teixeira, Porto. Academic training in cinema. Multidisciplinary artist whose work is structured around cinema, photography and drawing. She has also occasionally developed curatorial and film programming activities. Her projects explore the absurd, the abyss, mental health, ageing and the relationship between presence and absence of language. The polarity and attraction between the analogue and digital worlds, the recycling and re-signification of found footage are also territories she has been investigating.

Cresdits

presenças: Gastão Teixeira André Gil Mata Tanya Ruivo

realização: Tânia Gomes Teixeira

director of photography: Pedro Magano
producer: Pedro Sá  
music: JP Coimbra
sound technician: Maurício d’Orey
art direction: Ana Abelha
voice-over recording: Duarte Ferreira
gimbal operators: Sílvio Rocha, Tiago Faria
editors: Pedro Magano, Tânia Gomes Teixeira
graphic art: Igor Ramos
scene photographs: Teresa Pacheco Miranda, Jorge Costa
research support:​​​​​​​  Amanda Alves Ribeiro
research interviews:​​​​​​​ Inês Rothes, Sónia Cunha, Filipe Palavra  

production: Pixbee  

thanks: Gastão Teixeira, Madalena Fernandes, Jorge Teixeira, Sandra Fernandes, Amanda Alves Ribeiro, Rita Samico, Márcio Laranjeira   

Thanks

Família de  Gastão Teixeira, Família do  Duque da Ribeira, Cândido Venceslau,  Miguel Ferreira, Tiago Ferreira, Pilar Magano, David Pereira, Lúcia Lopes, Catarina Pereira Coelho, Natasha Bridge, Eduardo Silva, Mário Gomes

LSA LAB - ISEP
Capitania do Porto
FilmaPorto
Cemitério Prado  do Repouso
Bombeiros Voluntários de Miranda do Douro
Parque Natural do Douro Internacional

Supports