Uma Lulik is an award-winning documentary that follows the construction of a sacred house in the mountainous region of Venilale (Timor-Leste). Traditionally speaking, the Uma Lulik is the centre of everything, the umbilical cord between the past and the present; for those alive, it is a secured reservoir of past memories and wisdom; for the dead, it’s a timeless place, where history is constantly renewed. The construction or renovation of a sacred house usually takes place every 10-20 years; this cycle revitalises the ties with their forefathers, it also regenerates the loyalty and mutual responsibility between relatives and different families.

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Uma Lulik was the first documentary entirely directed by an East Timorese —filmmaker and artist Victor de Sousa–, who over 9 months captured one of the oldest traditions in Timor-Leste, transporting us to the universe of his forefathers, unquestionable and present in each moment and for every object born from the land and from the collective memory of the East Timorese.

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Uma Lulik remind us that the reconstruction of national identity, specially after the destruction of most of the sacred houses during 24 years of Indonesian occupation, is now passing through the villages and the mountains, where memories and the sacred are returning slowly to their place, returning home.

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