The Grass Grows

For generations, Sa Bastida has been much more than a house: it has been a refuge, a witness, and a vital centre for the Barceló family. Today, however, solitude has settled into every room, and Joan, the last one who remains, carries the living memory of all that it once was. As the arrival of new rhythms, infrastructures, and urban landscapes threatens this fragile environment, the documentary delves into the tension between the persistence of the past and the relentless advance of modernity. With an intimate and contemplative gaze, Dear Sa Bastida portrays not only the physical decay of a home, but also the emotional and symbolic value of a space that is quietly fading away. It is a tribute to the spaces that disappear, to the people who endure within them, and to the need to preserve memory before progress completely erases what defines us.

A film in which the author seeks to express the love he feels for the central figure of the family: his grandmother. By documenting her daily life and interviewing family members about their feelings toward her, this documentary becomes a love letter.

The author proposes, drawing on elements of essay film and magical-poetic realism, a sense of disorientation, a longing for affection, the acceptance of loneliness, and ultimately the rediscovery of love. This is represented through dreamlike spaces and a mutable perception of time.

For generations, the entrance to the family home has been marked by a white-painted olive tree, a symbol of identity. Today, the filmmaker’s father and brother must cut it down so that their grandmother can move more easily in and out of the house. This event sparks a reflection on the grandmother’s grief following the grandfather’s death, as well as on the distance and tensions that arise between the filmmaker and his brother whenever he returns home. The short film unfolds as a filmed letter from one brother to another.