One hot August afternoon, a family gathers around the dinner table to remember their uncle Botão. He worked as a garbage man for almost thirty years through the Colonial War, the Salazar dictatorship, and the emigration to France. Those closest to him open up, sharing stories about a man who could find new meaning and significance in what other people threw away, forgot, or wore out.

This documentary animation, which screened at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, creates a vivid visual world of textures made up of brush strokes, motifs, and colours. Director Laura Gonçalves tells a story of the real and the imaginary, both in her own family and in the memories of the Portuguese people. In this short film, the character of the uncle possesses a gravitational pull on thoughts, associations, and facts, gradually revealing the micro-history within his reach.