The Architect and the Old Village

Álvaro Siza Vieira, a famous visionary Portuguese architect, is called to coordinate the rehabilitation of the monuments and architectonic heritage of Cidade Velha (Old Village) in Santiago, one of the African islands of Cape Verde. This project creates great expectations among the local population, who envisages it as a way of improving their quality of life. The film explores the relationship and the conflict between these two worlds, two cultures, with different ideas of what modernity and progress mean. The film reflects with humor the idea that tradition is a new value of the modern era, the relationship between the people of Cidade Velha and the team and finally, the role of Siza who in his calm and timid manner, manages to understand and incorporate all conflicts and questions by planning, deciding, imagining and, above all, by drawing intensively.