In a tradition dating back to the dawn of humanity, Costa da Caparica was born through the Arte-Xávega. Today, a community of fishermen adapts this fishing technique to the modern world, in a choreography between machine, waves, and Man.
On the beach, amid the rhythm of the waves and the whirring of engines, an ancient choreography unfolds: the Arte-Xávega. The departing boats cast their nets in an invisible arc, only to return bearing not only fish, but the beginning of a collective ritual.
On land, men and machines work together to synchronize their movements. Everything depends on a fragile balance: the rhythm of the sea, the weight of the net, the precision of every gesture. Each crew moves as a single body, in a dance where no one can falter. Between the past and the present, Arte-Xávega continues to take place, not as a memory, but as a living practice, between tradition and adaptation on the Costa da Caparica, which we know more as a beach and a place for fun, and much less as a workplace.
After all, as the 1967 archival footage reminds us right at the beginning of this film, greatly undervaluing this collective effort, “The old fishermen, going about their work, add a picturesque touch to the bustling beach.” (Margarida Moz)
