Close to Heaven

Running time: 93 mins

In a forgotten corner of the Carpathian Mountains, a poet of the camera captures the last wondrous vestiges of a vanishing way of life.

Dmitru Stanciu is one of the last of his kind, a mountain shepherd living close to heaven. He is as much a part of these mountains as the rivers or the wind, as much a part of their heart as the myths and traditions by which he lives.

Every shot is so perfectly composed, every image, so "right"; if only they could stay on the screen a little longer, that we might soak in their beauty and the feelings they evoke in us. But time will not stop, for us or for Dmitru, and soon these beautiful images will be all that is left.

- Charlie Cockey

Preceded by the short film: 27; dir. Nicolas Daenens; Belgium; 12 min.; 27 is a dangerous age. And it's clear this young man doesn't want to be bothered.