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Unlock the Cosmic Secrets Buried in ‘The Seasons’ — This “Archaeological Film” Will Blow Your Mind and Your Star Chart!

Added on August 3, 2025 inMovie News Cards

So, the Locarno Film Festival—yeah, that artsy Swiss gig that’s been doing its thing for 78 years—is throwing down a cinematic mystery called The Seasons (As Estações). Now, here’s where it gets juicy: it’s Maureen Fazendeiro’s first solo feature directorial debut. Think of her as this French-Lisbon hybrid cinematic wizard who’s been secretly cooking up magic alongside Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes. Her flick premieres right in the festival’s spotlight on August 11, promising to take us on a ride through the real and mythical tales of southern Portugal’s Alentejo region.

Picture this: archaeologists’ dusty journals, rural folklore, amateur videos, poetry, and even songs all mashed together like a cinematic quilt — weaving stories of war, revolution, resistance, and change. Fazendeiro calls it an “archaeological film,” digging deep into the landscape and souls of a forgotten world. And hey, with the stars wobbling around in cosmic shifts these days, who’s to say the universe isn’t nudging us to reconnect with old stories and hidden histories? Especially when we’re on the brink of Mercury’s retrograde, inviting us to re-explore, re-think, and maybe just re-watch this beautiful enigma of The Seasons.

If you’re curious about what’s got cows, moons, rocks, and whispers of “Once upon a time” all tangled up in one place, well, you’re in for a treat. LEARN MORE

The Locarno Film Festival, at its 78th edition this year, is inviting audiences to explore The Seasons (As Estações).

The movie is the solo directorial feature debut from Maureen Fazendeiro (medium-length film Les Habitants, short Black Sun), a French filmmaker and casting director living in Lisbon who is known as a long-time collaborator of Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes, with whom she co-directed The Tsugua Diaries and co-wrote Grand Tour. The film will world premiere in the Swiss festival’s main competition lineup on Aug. 11.

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The film is based on accounts and tales collected during its preparation and the personal
archives and fieldnotes of German archaeologists Georg and Vera Leisner, who studied megalithic sites in Iberia.

”Weaving together accounts of rural workers and field notes of a couple of archaeologists, amateur footage and scientific drawings, legends, poems, and songs, As Estações is a journey through the real history and the tales of a region in southern Portugal, Alentejo, and a portrait of the people who have lived there,” notes a synopsis on the festival website.

Fazendeiro herself, in a director’s statement, describes the movie as “an archaeological film,” explaining: “It excavates the landscape, the voices, and gestures of the people of Alentejo to uncover the vestiges of a shared history, one of wars and revolutions, fear and resistance, permanence and metamorphosis.”

‘The Seasons’

Courtesy of Marianne Andrea Borowiec

Written and directed by Fazendeiro, The Seasons features cinematography from Robin Fresson and Marta Simões. As cast members, Simão Ramalho, Cláudio da Silva, Ana Potra, Manuel Leitão, and António Sozinho are listed, along with voice cast members Gerti Drassl, Michaela Kaspar, Raphael von Bargen, Toni Slama, António Abel, and Simão Romeu.

International sales on the co-production between Portugal, France, Spain, and Austria, are being handled by Square Eyes.

THR can unveil a trailer for The Seasons, which features, among other things, archeologists, rocks, flowers, the moon, lots of goats, and such lines as “I heard a story” and “Once upon a time.”

Watch the full trailer below and decide for yourself if you want to hear a story.

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