Following on from his earlier films,
Bones,
In Vanda’s Room and
Colossal Youth,
Pedro Costa takes his portrayal of the lives of Cape Verdean immigrants living in Lisbon’s former slum area Fontainhas to another level of cinematic intensity and rigour.
He has us follow his protagonist Ventura into the dense chiaroscuro of a nocturnal, dreamlike world where the old man’s memories merge with the stories of other characters to form a spell-bounding and deeply moving account of immigrant experience and Portugal’s troubled history.
After the screening director
Pedro Costa will be in conversation with critic / journalist
Ian Haydn Smith.
Portugal 2014, colour, 105 mins.
Directed by Pedro Costa.
In collaboration with, and organised by EUNIC London and the Goethe-Institut London.
In association with the London Film School. Supported by the Camões institute.
Pedro Costa Biography
Born in Lisbon in 1959, Pedro Costa left his studies in history to attend classes taught by the poet and filmmaker António Reis at the Lisbon Film School.
Ever since his first film O Sange, he has created documentaries and feature films that have premiered at Venice, Cannes and Locarno and won awards at festivals throughout the world, such as the FIPRESCI Prize at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2001 for Colossal Youth or the Leopard for Best Direction at the Locarno Film Festival in 2014 for Horse Money.
His profound knowledge of film history, his dedication to craft, and his long-term commitment to making films about Cape Verdean immigrants in Lisbon and incorporating them in the process have established him as one of the most consistently daring and uncompromising directors living today.
Ian Haydn Smith Biography
Ian Haydn Smith is a film journalist, critic, writer, editor of Curzon Magazine. He is also a contributing editor at the Quintessence Publications where he is leading on the editions off Movie Star Chronicles and Movie Director Chronicles, as well as assuming the role of editor on the annually revised publication 1001 Films to See Before You Die.
Since 2007 for five years Ian worked as the editor at International Film Guide developing relationships with festivals throughout Europe, Asia and the US and regularly acting as the jury member, as the IFG Editor, at festivals in the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal and South Africa. As a broadcaster and interviewer, Ian is a frequent guest on BBC radio, both regional and World Service’s The Strand programme, as well as the Film Programme. He often appears at Cinepolitics, a weekly television magazine programme focusing on politically themed features and documentaries.
As a writer Ian contributes to numerous publications, including Time Out, Vertigo, Metro, Kamera and Scope, as well as the books 50 Key Contemporary Directors, This is Cinema, The Guide to North American Directors and The Guide to British and Irish Directors.
For many years Ian is the regular host for BAFTA events, as well as the host and chair of panel discussions at the last four editions of the London Film Festival. During the last couple of years Ian has been consulting British Council in many countries, including Russia, on forthcoming film programmes and events.
Book tickets
Pedro Costa will also present a
masterclass on Saturday, 25 February at 11 am.
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