Ora maritima

If Rufo Festo Avieno's Ora maritima, which is based on pre-Roman sources, is the oldest written text mapping out the coasts of Iberia, then Ora maritima by Alfonso Camacho, which is based on all kinds of pre-covid imagery, is the most recent audiovisual dissection of the soul of that "bull skin" that is the map of Spain. While Avieno resorted to verse, Camacho crafts his film to the rhythm of flamenco, in a work of both rancid and, at the same time, ultramodern aromas that must be seen but, most of all, must to be heard. A film essay montage reminiscent of a bizarre Val del Omar, one that talks about the sea and cinema as a measure of time. Let us be swept away by the tide of images before the bells of oblivion ring out! (AD)