November 6th – 1609 km (Espinho – Paris)
Four people, a double decker bus and 1600 km to do. What an adventure! The production team and our warrior driver, Sofia, got through a 16 hours journey, discovering that the bus is actually a she bus, and that her name is Gina! 9 hours later we’re finally in Paris and staying at the Notre Dame of Fatima, with the Portuguese catholic community. When the 13 filmmakers met us, they found Filipe under the bus, while getting a check up at dear Gina.
The meeting in Paris with the 13 filmmakers and mingling with the immigrant community was very exciting, not mentioning walking around and sleeping in an empty dark church. Mon Dieu, Borderline!

November 10th – 539 km (Paris – Genève)
After a long and wet trip, we finally made it to the UN’s capital where our hosts, the Portuguese scouts community, took us to a 500 people gathering and party! It was amazing to be so well received and to have the chance to mingle with the Portuguese, the Brazilian, the Italian and the Mozambique’s immigrants in Switzerland!

November 12th – 437 km (Genève – Marseille)
We traveled through a freezing night to Marseille. The warm winds and sunny sky of the Mediterranean city were there to receive us, along with dear Virginia Acebal, our local production teammate in Marseille. She got us a pretty nice place to park the bus, Le Cité des Arts de la Rue, and an apartment in the town center to spend the two nights. After we managed to get all the filmmakers luggage from one place to another, everything started to flow. Everyone was very pleased with Marseille and even got some free time to visit the town and get a smell of the french night life.
On the 15th, before heading of to San Sebastián, we had a flash light picnic with the biggest pasta meal ever made.. in a bus.

November 15th – 745 km (Marseille – San Sebastián)
So, 20 hours later and still with the leftovers, we finally cross the border and the Spanish part of the tour began. The sunset view from the Ulia Youth Hostel at San Sebastián was breath taking along with the 25 degrees that made us all feel in paradise city. After a much needed rest, some of the filmmakers took the afternoon to do some editing and to get the laundry done. Everyone was then ready to hit the town, all fresh and clean! We truly thank to the foundation of the ECOC San Sebastián 2016, Kimuak and to the San Sebastián Film Festival production for welcoming us and for taking care of the hosting in such a beautiful place.

After 3500 km, we are very excited to get to Madrid to enjoy the great experience that comes ahead: a two night stay at Colin Arthur’s Dream Factory Studio.

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Mariana Pinho
Production Team