Logline
Around an archaeological site in rural Nicaragua, scientists with digital instruments and the people who have always lived on the land read the same landscape in very different ways.
Synopsis
Traces of the Temporary is an experimental and poetic film about what is observed, sensed and imagined around an archaeological site in rural Nicaragua. The large stone statues, engraved rocks and earthen mounds have long intrigued archaeologists, who, equipped with advanced technological devices and digital simulations, strive to reach an accurate understanding of the past. Meanwhile, the people who have always lived there watch the seasonal arrival of research teams from European universities with curiosity, while recounting their own experiences with the landscape they grew up in: tales of supernatural apparitions, inexplicable lights and the mysterious ways in which the past remains alive.
The film moves through the lives of a handful of people whose lives are intertwined with the archaeological site and with each other: from a schoolboy whose family has farmed the land for generations, a Latvian archaeologist who devoted years of research to this area, to a museum caretaker who religiously cleans the artefacts, a nocturnal motorcyclist who collects lithics, and a woman whose New Wave spirituality offers another way of sensing the past. Layering these portraits – partly authentic and partly staged – they reveal how each life reads the same landscape through a different lens.
In between the intimate vignettes, the archaeological landscape – and its digital doubles – becomes a contemplative space where multiple ways of understanding reality can coexist. The film reflects on the “magical” and incomprehensible aspects of techno-science and explores concepts such as epistemology, philosophy of science, landscape, heritage, memory, hyperreality, and the relationship between magic and technology.
Technical information
Genre mid-length film, experimental documentary
Duration 40–60 min
Country Belgium
Locations Nicaragua, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands
Status in production
Production Hilife Cinematography
Supported by VAF Filmlab
Crew
Director Anne Vera Veen
Director of Photography Felipe Esparza Pérez
Anne Vera Veen - director
Anne Vera Veen (1993, Belgium) is a visual artist and researcher with a background in visual anthropology and archaeology. She applies this background in her artistic research and as a co-founder of the artists-led collective Galerie de Jaloezie, a platform for film and audiovisual art. In 2023 she was selected for the residency programme Sound Image Culture in Brussels and later participated in the ReCNTR Lab (The Hague, 2024–25), where she developed the conceptual and audiovisual foundations of Traces of the Temporary.
Felipe Esparza Pérez - director of photography
Felipe Esparza Pérez (1985, Peru) is a filmmaker and visual artist whose work moves between cinema and the visual arts. Trained in contemporary photography at the Centro de la Imagen in Lima, he explores the relationship between image, time, and nature through a contemplative and poetic visual language. His films have been shown internationally. His debut feature Cielo Abierto (2023) premiered at IFFR 2023 and continued to travel widely. In 2018, he received the Best Film Award at the Lima Independiente International Film Festival. Felipe has worked as a cinematographer on Moheda (2022) by Julián García Long and now on Traces of the Temporary.
Contact
Hilife Cinematography - info@hilife.be
