Percebes

A rare and reputedly delicious type of crustacean fund in abundance only along the coast of the Algarve, percebes, also known as goose barnacles, are intrinsic to the region’s most celebrated dishes. This Oscar-shortlisted animation uses lush watercolour imagery to tell their story and explore their relationship with the land, architecture and culture.

Although there is narration, it’s very much the imagery that carries it. We see the percebes themselves in their natural environment, filtering out nutrients from the sea water in a rocky cove; we see them harvested, and follow them through each step of their journey to a restaurant plate. There's so much detail in forms and texture that one can almost smell them, whilst local music makes the film still more evocative. The colours and shapes chosen by co-directors Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires invite us to see aspects of the percebes in everything.

Even the people in the film, when seen from a distance, take on aspects of the crustaceans. This extends beyond the visual, as the film explores their own symbiotic relationship with the rock, uniting the biological with the geological in its construction of place. It’s a simple but elegant conceit, which will delight those already fond of the Algarve and give others a new perspective.