The Penamacor bonfire begins long before the flame is lit. More than just wood: it's a community.
The project
A Flame From Within is a documentary about the Madeiro de Penamacor (town and villages). Not just about the moment the fire is lit, but about everything that happens before.
Before the flame, there are days of work.
There are encounters, repeated gestures, conversations that span generations.
Around the bonfire, in the cold of winter, people, memories, and silences gather, saying more than any hasty narrative.
We're not talking about a tradition that has disappeared. The bonfire continues to be lit every year. But something is changing.
The number of people who remember other ways of experiencing this moment (of other times, other rhythms) is decreasing. And with them disappear stories that were never recorded, only lived.
This film is about that.
About that which is unseen, but sustains everything.
Where are we?
The project has been underway since 2023 with the support of the Municipality of Penamacor and is part of its application for Intangible Heritage status.
We've already collected images, listened to testimonies, and begun to build this portrait. But we're talking about 13 different locations and a single day to film everything. To premiere the documentary in 2027, we're missing one essential moment: the next bonfire cycle, this Christmas, in 5 of the 13 villages.
Learn more about the project at https://linktr.ee/umachamadointerior
About the author
I grew up between two worlds: the city where I was born and the countryside that has always been a part of my life. About four years ago, I decided to trade the urban pace for the calm of the central countryside, where time moves more slowly, moving lock, stock, and barrel to a village in the municipality of Penamacor. It was there that I discovered a reality deeply rooted in the region's identity: Madeiro.
More than a tradition, the Madeiro festival has become a moment of encounter, memory, and collective belonging. I then realized the urgency of documenting and preserving this cultural heritage, not only for its symbolic value, but because it represents the continuity of stories, gestures, and communities that resist time.
Although there are Madeiros in other regions of the country, this project aims to give a face, voice and memory to those who keep this celebration alive year after year: those who cut the firewood, those who transport the logs, those who organize, those who participate and those who make the Madeiro of Penamacor (and its villages) much more than just a bonfire.
The goal is to preserve not only the tradition itself, but above all the human stories that give it meaning, ensuring that this collective heritage remains alive for future generations.
This is another co-production between Miguel Martins' MRFM Audiovisuais and Sérgio Diamantino's Something Different, who once again join forces to produce and direct a documentary in their signature "guerrilla" style. They directly collect testimonies, events, and genuine, unrepeatable moments without pre-production. The pursuit of authenticity and an almost anthropological perspective on their surroundings is part of their signature as filmmakers.
Budget and due dates
What is the purpose of the support?
We want to raise €3500 for:
- Strengthen the team with an additional videographer to ensure the capture of images during the bonfire season in the remaining locations (5 villages).
- to allow for the collection of testimonies with more time and care.
- to guarantee images that will lead us solidly to post-production.
This support allows us to complete the filming phase with the depth that the project requires and move on to post-production.
Why now?
The bonfire will continue to happen.
But each year is different.
There are stories that can still be told by those who lived them. And those are the ones we want to hear.
Not out of forced urgency, but because this is the right time.
🤍 Thank you 🤍
If you've made it this far, you're closer than you think.
There are stories that only exist as long as someone chooses to listen to them.
Thank you for helping to keep this flame burning.
Images
