Veronique Magnin
The continuous journey: The film first follows transhumance in November 2017 from the Sierra de Segura to the Sierra Morena in Andalusia – a 200-km trek – by a flock of over 1000 Segureña sheep and their shepherds. It continues to follow the flock and the shepherds during their 6-month stay in the Dehesa de Linares in the Sierra Morena.
It concludes in the spring of 2018 when the flock returns to Santiago-Pontones, their place of origin in the Sierra de Segura. Joaquín Lisón and Conchi Meseguer (director and executive producer) were motivated to make a film about transhumance to highlight a natural, social and cultural heritage of the Iberian Peninsula: the extensive grazing of the Segura sheep, a very hardy native breed, uses organic methods and produces high-quality organic meat. The flock moves on foot and uses natural resources year-round, helping maintain the landscape and livestock trails, fertilise the soil, prevent wild fires and maintain biodiversity as ecosystem services. Despite these advantages and the production of high-quality lamb, this system is at risk of disappearing. Sheep farming has fed and clothed us for centuries; it helped keep people in rural areas, generated diverse native breeds and shaped our culture; it is therefore a heritage that must be defended.
