Experimentation, Metamorphosis, Transcendence
PORTUGAL | 125 minutes | 2019
A plane takes Vitalina from Cape Verde to Portugal for the funeral of her husband, who abandoned her long ago. Through dark Cape Verdean immigrant ghettos, images of postcolonial abandonment and her late husband’s nearly ruined house, she finds herself grieving his promises of a lavish lifestyle. Pedro Costa returns to his shantytown characters with a humane and hopeful eye. The stunning use of chiaroscuro lighting in the claustrophobic interiors, brilliantly composed static shots and a rich colour palette make the film feel like a series of living paintings."Costa's latest vision of Cape Verdean immigrants — a highlight from this year's Locarno Film Festival — is another lyrical vision of somber people confronting their past. The mystery and wonder of Pedro Costa’s filmmaking defies any specific category other than his own unique blend." Indie Wire
Golden leopard, Leopard for best actress and Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury - Locarno Film Festival
No biography
1987 - CARTAS A JULIA, short1990 - O SANGUE / BLOOD1994 - CASA DE LAVA1997 - OSSOS / BONES2000 - NO QUARTO DA VANDA / IN VANDA'S ROOM2001 - DANIÈLE HUILLET, JEAN-MARIE STRAUB, CINÉASTES episode of the collection CINÉASTES, DE NOTRE TEMPS2002 - ONDE JAZ O TEU SORRISO? / OÙ GÎT VOTRE SOURIRE ENFOUI? / WHERE DOES YOUR HIDDEN SMILE LIE?2003 - 6 BAGATELAS, short2006 - JUVENTUDE EM MARCHA / COLOSSAL YOUTH2007 - TARRAFAL, short in O ESTADO DO MUNDO / THE STATE OF THE WORLD2007 - THE RABBIT HUNTERS, short in MEMORIES, JEONJU DIGITAL PROJECT2009 - NE CHANGE RIEN2010 - O NOSSO HOMEM / OUR MAN, short2012 - SWEET EXORCIST, short in CENTRO HISTORICO2014 - CAVALO DINHEIRO / HORSE MONEY2019 - VITALINA VARELA
Shortly before the French Revolution in a forest somewhere between Potsdam and Berlin, a group of aristocratic libertines driven out of Louis XVI’s...
Feature film, Fiction
FRANCE, SPAIN, PORTUGAL | 132 minutes | 2019
If I were to adopt a bird that lived to be 150, would you take care of it after I died? asked his mother shortly before dying. Thus begins the young...
Feature film, Experimental
PORTUGAL, ANGOLA | 85 minutes | 2018
For five years, Lukas Marxt followed a schizophrenic man living in Lanzarote, Canary Islands. The result is this experimental portrait where lonely...
Feature film, Documentary
AUSTRIA, GERMANY | 74 minutes | 2019
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