Commissioned / 

The Telling Room

The Telling Room

The Telling Room is a documentary work shot for the New York Times Magazine. It is the visual transposition of the novel by american writer Mike Paterniti, taking place in the remote Spanish village of Guzman.In this picturesque village, inside a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as “the telling room.” Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets — usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine. It was here, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheesemaker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras.

Guzman (population: 80) is a Spanish village like many others. A place that is disappearing, abandoned and inhabited only by a few elderly farmers.

Guzman is a one of a kind place. Is a fairy tale–like place where the villagers conversed with farm animals, lived by an ancient Castilian code of honor, and made their wine and food by hand, from the grapes growing on a nearby hill and the flocks of sheep floating over the Meseta.

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Guzman, a view of the village roofs.

Countryside close to Guzman. "Soave" is one of the last shepherd in the area. In this picture he's portrayed with his flock and his faithful mule in the fields where he brings the sheep to graze every day.

A street in Guzman.

Crescenzio Diez Casado, know as "Crees", 60 years old, sculptor and artist, portrayed in his studio in Guzman.

The tops of the trees reflected in one of the precious sources of water rising in the fields of Guzman.

Faustino, peasant of Guzman, working on his fields.

Santiago, peasant of Guzman, reaches his planted fields with his strange vehicle, half tractor and half car, invented by himself to move on the hill of the village.

Asuncion Molinos, daughter of Ambrosio, portrayed on the fields of Guzman.

Sunset, the house of a peasant is silhouetted against a hill at outskirts of Guzman.

Ambrosio Molinos sit at the table of the Contador (The Telling Room). Ambrosio is clasping the iron key opening the door of the room.

The starry sky lighting the bells in the night of Guzman.