Salatinas

Stories of Old Coimbra's Upper Town

Overview

In the 1940s, about three thousand people were expelled from Coimbra's Alta (Upper Town) to make way for the University City. This is the testimony of the last survivors of that community and of one of the greatest urban transformations in Portugal, in a time when forced evictions, lack of access to housing, and social segregation still make headlines. A journey into the memory of the historic neighborhood swept off the map under the regime's impetus for renewal, and to the buzz of students, tricaninhas (Coimbra's traditional working-class women), grocers, and tailors hidden beneath the faculties. A documentary about people, but also about power, resistance, identity, and the price of progress.