Carlos Amaral's latest film, which competed in the 2013 festival together with “Longe do Éden” – is fresh and original. It is a type of ethno-fiction in which the detective story of searching for a missing woman is fused with an anthropological look at Shrovetide (Carnival) traditions in a hamlet in the Trás-os-Montes region. The mystery of the disappearance is intertwined with the mystery of ancient beliefs surrounding the “Caretos” (Mummers). In this manner and through archive images, photographs of the missing person and a haunting soundtrack, the film cooks up a huge mystic cauldron. The voiceover, a species of investigative diary, contains witness accounts from a historian, the inhabitants of the village and the missing person herself (in this case in epistolary mode), all on recorded cassette tape. The film is a hybrid of fiction and documentary and a charming entertainment for the viewer. (FN)