A Última Chata
A Última Chata (The Last Chata) is a documentary by Louyse Gerardo about Simão, the last man still keeping alive the traditional craft of building the chata. The chata is a small handcrafted wooden boat that has long been part of Cascais’s seafaring history and identity.
The film will be screened on 16 November at 18h00 at the Museu do Mar Rei D. Carlos, Cascais’s sea museum. It is an invitation to discover a craft that has been handed down through generations and is now at risk of disappearing.
Filmed over a year and a half, the documentary follows Simão between the museum, his home and the sea. Alongside the making of a chata, it captures the memories, know-how and relationships that have grown up around the craft. It also brings in the figure of his own master, now 92, linking generations of Cascais men whose lives have been shaped by boatbuilding and the sea.
The film sets out to record knowledge that lives not only in the boats themselves, but also in gestures, stories and the memories of those who learned the trade.
More than a portrait of one man, it is a reflection on a way of life and on why it matters to preserve the intangible cultural heritage of coastal communities. Through Simão’s story, it explores the ties between memory, identity, place and the sea, and asks what happens when knowledge passed down from generation to generation no longer finds anyone to carry it on.
Free admission. Information and registration: museumar@cm-cascais.pt | 214 815 906
