João Manso

the mobile phone of Alain, a belgium director in his fifties, appears a mysterious picture. Enough time to recognise Luisa, the portuguese actress he loved so passionately 7 years ago, during the shooting of his unfinished film.

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In the summer of 1969, four friends built a raft to travel down two Portuguese rivers from the center of the country to Lisbon. Forty years later, the son of one of these men reported this event in a book of poems, as a metaphor of the Portuguese travel literature of the 16Th and 17Th centuries. After, it occurred to him to turn the poems into a real event, to invite some friends to reenact the raft journey and exhibit texts from those peregrinations. His brother went along to film the floating recital.

The Secret History of Aviation is a poignant reflection on that which rises and that which falls. Its title and narration are taken from a piece written by Manuel Zimbro, in which he muses on what it is that prevents man from being able to fly, and what impact this limitation has on the natural world. The images collated in this film trace the devastation left by the fires of 2017 – the worst year on record in terms of damage to Portugal's forests. It reminds us that to jump up into the air is, inescapably, to come back down to the ground again.