«He runs six hours every day: people think he is mad, they call him Machine.»
Atletas
“A great story.”
Runin926
«The story about a man of incredible potential, a great spirit of sacrifice, perseverance, resolve and desire for self-improvement without equal.»
Koldo Larrea. Correr y Fitness
Machine is a guy from Senegal whom everybody has met or heard about in Guinea Bissau but no one knows his name. They nick-named him Machine because he spends six hours running every day.
Although he doesn’t stand a chance to become part of the athletic team of Senegal because of his age, or the athletic team of Guinea Bissau, since he isn’t from there, Machine carries on training in the hope that he might be taken into account some day. Thus, he must be ready. Because he devotes so much time to training the locals also call him the madman. “You run too much. You should stop,” they tell him. Machina just says “it is normal” because “they aren’t acquainted with that sport.”
While shooting a documentary on Amílcar Cabralin Bissau we frequently ran into a peculiar character who’d run fast amid the city traffic. Machine is a utopian nutcase, excessively committed to sport and health. He is physically built like a professional athlete but his lifestyle was like that of a homeless person who got by thanks to charitable souls that gave to him for free sports clothes, food and lodgings. That contrast in him as well as his determination, self-sacrifice and optimism made Machina lovable to us. We took shots of him running around the streets of Bissau and discovered his past but above all we found out the genuine way in which he faced live.
Title: Máquina
International title: Machine
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 2 min
Source Format: 16:9 AppleProRes422HQ
Screening Format: AppleProRes422 y H264
Original language: French
Available subtitles: English and Spanish
Filming Locations: Bissau, Guinea Bissau
Year: 2017
Company: Mosaic Production
Direction and Screenplay: Miguel Eek
Head of Production: Marta Castells
Sound Design and Mixing: Rubén Pérez
Film Editor: Miguel Eek
Color grading: Jaume Alcina
